Michael Penix Jr. could be Atlanta’s next Black QB hope, or another Falcons blunder

It’s been almost two decades since Michael Vick was unceremoniously exiled from the Atlanta Falcons, ending a quarterback tenure in which a Black quarterback was the biggest star in America’s Blackest city. Since then, the Falcons have been without a Black franchise quarterback.

That may have changed on Day 1 of the 2024 NFL draft when the Falcons used their eighth pick on University of Washington phenom Michael Penix Jr. In a vacuum, this can be a major franchise pick for the team, but the circumstances surrounding the decision make it all the more dramatic … and unpredictable.

The Falcons entered the NFL offseason in desperate need of a franchise quarterback as the team has been foundering in that position since moving on from Matt Ryan in 2021. Things got dire for the team this past season as Desmond Ridder ended the year with 17 touchdowns and 24 turnovers, completing a full retreat from the promise of being a capable starter. The team ended up 7-10 for the third straight year, leading to the firing of its head coach Arthur Smith.

The team seemed to find its franchise quarterback in Kirk Cousins, a 35-year-old coming off of a torn Achilles tendon. His new contract: four years, $180 million – $100 million guaranteed. Cousins is supposed to be the end to the quarterback search, and the dynamic arm who would lift the offense full of weapons to a contender. His age and injury history meant that the Falcons were going to eventually need to find his replacement, but an eighth pick before Cousins has taken his first snap? That’s something else entirely.

Now, the Falcons have a situation in which two quarterbacks who could right the ship are now embroiled in controversy and maybe even a brewing quarterback battle. Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Cousins doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, but one can’t help but be reminded of the movie Any Given Sunday where upstart Willie Beaman came in and challenged the aging white quarterback’s spot.

For the Falcons’ sake, maybe this is a real-life saving grace in the way that we saw quarterback Russell Wilson come in and take over the starting role for the Seattle Seahawks as a rookie in 2012 after the team had signed Matt Flynn to $26 million. But for now, the decision to draft Penix who, like Vick is an athletic southpaw with a cannon for an arm, but who has his own severe injury history, has only attracted criticism.

The Falcons have spent the last couple of years flirting with the prospect of bringing in a Black franchise quarterback to troubling and confounding results. In 2022, the team was desperate to sign Deshaun Watson, who was coming off of an offseason marred by dozens of sexual misconduct allegations. That didn’t seem to matter so much to team owner Arthur Blank, whose dogged pursuit of Watson was no secret. Regardless, Watson went to the Cleveland Browns in an eleventh-hour move.

The next offseason brought the Falcons to considering MVP Lamar Jackson as a free agent, but this time Blank quickly shut that down in a now-infamous comment in March 2023: “Looking at it objectively, I’d say there’s some concern over how long can he play his style of game. Hopefully a long time … but he’s missed five, six games each of the last two years. Each game counts a lot in our business.”

Going all-in on a player with personal issues like Watson and passing on Jackson was always a nonsensical move, but only highlighted by the fact Jackson has since won an MVP and Watson has since missed 22 games. And that’s led the Falcons to this point, with an aging quarterback who has been blindsided by the drafting of a young, hotshot quarterback.

Drafting Penix like this won’t do him any favors, either. Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has indicated that he’s willing to let the rookie sit for years.

“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” he told reporters on draft night. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.”

Sitting someone four or five years and believing in him seem incongruous, especially if that person is drafted so high in the first round. Every game that Penix sits will represent missed opportunity for Falcons fans. He represents a lost chance at a top pick who could make a difference right now — like, say, Rome Odunze, a dynamic receiver who was drafted with the very next pick.

If Penix does somehow beat out Cousins and earn a starting spot, he’ll also represent a black eye for a franchise that broke the bank for a quarterback who couldn’t even beat out someone who was projected to land in the second round just a month ago.

Right now, all Atlanta and Penix have are hope. Hope that this somehow figures itself out. Hope that he proves the shocked prognosticators wrong by being that franchise quarterback the city desperately needs. 

Culturally, he could signal a return of a generational Black quarterback to a city that has been primed for one since its last great Black hope was ripped from the league. Until then, Penix is going to represent potential and another reason for fans and pundits to question the franchise that drafted him.