Michael Penix was the first round pick for the Falcons, and as you’d expect from such a selection, it was not exactly well-received in the hours to come.
Taking Penix might have been controversial if the Falcons hadn’t signed Kirk Cousins to a huge deal to be their short-term, high-end quarterback as the franchise seeks to return to the playoffs. Because they did sign Cousins, it was much more controversial pick, especially because if all goes well with Cousins we won’t see much of Penix until 2026 at the earliest.
Given that, I was curious to see what grades emerged from the post-pick noise, given that they’re poor long-term predictors of success but excellent for capturing how everyone’s feeling in the immediate aftermath of said pick.