By: Conor Amendola

Seriously, what the hell was that draft pick?

I’ve been thinking about this since the draft, and I can’t understand the draft decision by the Atlanta Falcons. It’s not making much sense to me. This is a team that just signed Kirk Cousins to a 4-year, $180 million contract. Cousins is a great QB hands down and has that potential to solidify the QB role for the first time since Matt Ryan. Sure, he had a season ending Achilles injury, but if he’s cleared to play, he should be a great QB by all accounts.

So why did Atlanta use an 8th overall pick to draft a rookie QB in Michael Penix Jr? It doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. Even Cousins was surprised, with multiple sites reporting that he was “stunned” by this decision, as he should be. Atlanta is taking a huge gamble, when their pick could have been used for a multitude of other positions. Just after Penix Jr. came Odunze, McCarthy, Fashanu, and Nix. A wide receiver, QB, offensive tackle, and another QB. Atlanta doesn’t need a big time QB after signing Cousins, unless his injury is much worse than anyone thought. If that was the case, however, I don’t know if it’s fair for Cousins to be stunned.

Ultimately, this is a very early reaction, and we need to hear from ATL to really understand why they did it. Either way, taking Penix is a risk that I’m not sure Atlanta really needed to take. Picking up an offensive tackle would be helpful to keep your $180 million QB protected, and a few good edge rushers went later in the draft. Atlanta needs to get some value from this pick, otherwise this could be the worst draft pick I’ve ever seen. Time will tell if picking up an 8th overall QB was worth it, or if Atlanta should have stuck to the plan with Cousins.

Conor can be reached at amendocj22@bonaventure.edu, or conor_j_1223 on IG.