Picking eighth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, nobody expected the Atlanta Falcons to draft Michael Penix Jr. They just paid Kirk Cousins $180 million in free agency not even two months prior, and Atlanta had glaring needs on the defensive side of the ball, most notably along the defensive line.
So in his infinite wisdom, Terry Fontenot decided to shock the NFL world. He went with Penix, much to the collective "WTFs" of football fans everywhere. And now that we look back on it, that decision has aged like milk, but it's not just who the Falcons drafted, it's who they passed on when they took him.
2024 was one of the most stacked NFL Draft classes in recent memory, especially on the offensive side of the football. All of the top QBs hit, pass-catchers like Malik Nabers and Brock Bowers are star-bound, and the defensive class was very weak, so naturally Atlanta got the short end of the stick.
Penix can very easily still turn things around, but fans questioned in the moment why they didn't just take J.J. McCarthy if they planned to take him. Yet that guy has been even worse. If the Dirty Birds still wanted to go quarterback in this draft, they never truly considered the guy they should've drafted.
The Atlanta Falcons' decision to pass on Bo Nix for Michael Penix Jr. has aged like milk
Nix was hand-picked by Sean Payton to be his muse, his new Drew Brees with the Denver Broncos, but in the moment, fans hated that pick just as much. At the time, most people didn't even have a first-round grade on Nix, yet that didn't stop Payton from rolling the dice just four picks later at No. 12.
Across his time at Auburn and Oregon, he never really screamed "future NFL star", but that's what he became--in large part thanks to Payton. Falcons fans should know full well what a QB guru he is due to his time with the New Orleans Saints, which is exactly what should make passing on Nix sting.
The 26-year-old threw 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions as a rookie, compared to 25 scores and 11 picks in 2025. He led the Broncos to the playoffs in each of his first two NFL seasons, and probably would've led them to the Super Bowl this past season if he didn't get injured in the win over the Bills. And now he's throwing to the best supporting cast he's ever had.
The Falcons really didn't consider Nix all that much, but if they were gonna go QB, they should've. As an older prospect, he was much more pro-ready than signal-callers, which shows from his Day 1 production. So even without Payton, he could've been the elite game manager he developed into in Denver while throwing to Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts in Atlanta.
Penix has been solid when he's actually on the field, but it hasn't been enough to bet on him as the franchise QB when drafting him got Fontenot and Raheem Morris fired. Hindsight isn't always 20:20 in the NFL world, but it doesn't take a genius to see that the Falcons would be in a much better spot had they rolled the dice on Nix.
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