What the hell are the Falcons doing?

Obviously, I love Michael Penix — he’s the best QB my NCAA team of choice has produced since Mark Brunell if not Warren Moon, and he took them closer to a national championship than anyone could have even hallucinated 3 years ago. I would rank McCarthy ahead of him — don’t tell Campos — but he’s certainly a legit NFL prospect. Had the Falcons not signed Kirk Cousins — and in my view they should not have — I would have still urged them to trade down where he still probably would have been available, but whatever salud.

But they did sign Cousins! To ~$100 million guaranteed! So the plan is to have a QB who will be 24 years old when the season starts burning most of his 10-ten-pick rookie contract on the bench for three years? Even by Falcons standards this is just bizarre resource allocation. In what has otherwise been a very chalky draft it’s one of the strangest picks I’ve ever seen.

We’ll we’re here, let me assure the Bears fans out there that you are gonna love Rome Onduze, and to the Giants fans you’re going to regret that they passed on him.

…It’s like how much more Falcons could this be and the answer is “none”:

The Falcons called Kirk Cousins when they were on the clock to let him know.
From what I learned, Cousins understood a QB would be considered but he did not believe his successor would be taken in the first round. I’m told he’s a bit stunned.— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 26, 2024