The Falcons outsmarted themselves by taking a quarterback with the eighth overall pick in the draft, just six weeks after making a nine-figure financial commitment to Kirk Cousins. They’re now trying to clean up the mess they made in their relationship with the veteran.
On Friday, G.M. Terry Fontenot suggested that Penix could sit for a very long time.
“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” Fontenot said. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at the position.”
First, the only great problem is no problem.
Second, it will be not great, Bob if Penix sits for four or five years. His contract lasts four years. What will they do, pick up his fifth-year option and let him sit then, too? Sign him to a long-term deal or franchise tag him for year six, even if he has never played?
They didn’t draft Penix to sit him for four or five years. At the very most, it’s three. The more likely number is two. And it could be as short as one, if Kirk Cousins doesn’t hit the ground sprinting — and if the locker room and/or the media and/or the customers start clamoring for Penix.
The Falcons made a mess. They should have signed a placeholder-style quarterback, like Gardner Minshew or Sam Darnold, and then they should have taken Penix.
This isn’t Aaron Rodgers sitting for three years behind Brett Favre or Jordan Love sitting for three years behind Rodgers. This is a top-10 pick being parked behind a 35-year-old mid-level starter with flashes of greatness who is still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and who has never taken a snap for the Falcons.
This is a mess. It’s a problem. There’s a chance it could end up being a “great problem.” It’s far more likely to be a problem in the normal way.
Because it already is.