The Atlanta Falcons seem to enjoy lighting money on fire.
After selecting Michael Penix Jr. No. 8 overall in last spring’s NFL Draft, and watching Penix Jr. look like a competent young quarterback down the stretch of his rookie season, the Falcons could have entered this offseason with the financial resources in tow to go all-in building around him while he’s on his rookie contract.
Instead, however, the Falcons decided not to move on from Kirk Cousins, who was signed weeks before Atlanta chose Penix in the draft only to be benched after 14 games.
Now, after not moving on from Cousins, the Falcons will be on the hook for a $10 million roster bonus that just triggered, which could have been allocated to shopping for players at key positions of need in free agency to surround Penix Jr. as he enters his second NFL season.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano makes the compelling argument that the Falcons would be better off eating the $90 million guaranteed to Cousins and moving forward with Penix, rather than squandering the precious years of their quarterback’s affordable rookie contract.
“Atlanta is lucky that Cousins isn’t the type of guy who’s going to hold out or make things difficult on the team,” Graziano writes for ESPN. “In an effort to force his way out. But if Penix starts every game this season, the Falcons will have paid Cousins $100 million for a total of 14 starts, and keeping him around means this mess will continue to hang over Penix while he works to make this his team.
“The Falcons would be better off just ripping off the Band-Aid and moving on. But it doesn’t look like they’re going to do that.”
Atlanta has some exciting young pieces around Penix; wide receivers Drake London and Darnell Mooney, tight end Kyle Pitts, and first-round running back Bijan Robinson.
However, the longer Cousins is on the roster, the more difficult it is going to be to build a contender around their young quarterback.
