First-round quarterbacks arrive to their first NFL teams with an inherent amount of pressure. That pressure can be exacerbated by other factors.
Such as, for example, the selection happening weeks after the team signed a free-agent quarterback to a contract that pays out $100 million guaranteed.
Last year, Kirk Cousins started until the offense sputtered. Enter Michael Penix Jr., the surprise eighth overall pick in the draft. He performed well enough in three late-season starts to cement his status as the starter, and to raise expectations for 2025. Now, following his first three starts of his second NFL season, it’s not going well for Penix and the Falcons.
The Falcons will be tempted to circle the wagons, in order to bolster a quarterback strategy that has yet to yield many benefits. Cousins, by the end of the season, will have made $90 million for, for now, 14 starts. Penix has yet to perform at a high level, with a low-end-of-mediocre passer rating through six career starts of 75.2.
In 2025, only three qualifying quarterbacks have passer ratings lower than Penix’s 71.3: Trevor Lawrence (70.3), Jake Browning (67.1), and Joe Flacco (65.9). Penix is averaging 6.11 yards per attempt, with one touchdown pass and two interceptions.
As Chris Simms said during Wednesday’s PFT Live, receivers were open throughout the 30-0 blowout loss at Carolina. Penix didn’t deliver the football to them.
In the aftermath of the game, however, the Falcons reacted to the embarrassing loss by bringing offensive coordinator Zac Robinson from the booth to the field, and by firing receivers coach Ike Hilliard. And coach Raheem Morris has made it clear that Penix won’t be benched for his $100 million backup.
Therein lies the challenge for the Falcons. Current decisions must be based on what’s best for the current team, not on making past decisions look good. Penix can’t be exempt from consequences for bad performance. Good teams acknowledge mistakes and rectify them; dysfunctional teams double down.
While that moment has yet to arrive for the Falcons, it’s getting closer. As evidenced by the changes made as to other aspects of an offense that, overall, isn’t nearly good enough.
It’s hard to blame all of it on Penix. He didn’t choose to be drafted by a team that had made a massive financial commitment to a veteran quarterback. He doesn’t design the plays. He doesn’t call the plays. But if the plays that are designed and called are resulting in open receivers and Penix isn’t getting the ball to them, that’s a problem.
If that problem continues, the solution isn’t to hold others accountable for it. Especially with Cousins nearly two years removed from his torn Achilles tendon and otherwise ready to go.
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