How much will Michael Penix Jr. make before he starts for Falcons?

Michael Penix Jr. was the talk of the town in Detroit in late April. No one saw Kirk Cousins' new team, the Atlanta Falcons, to draft the Washington star with their top-ten pick.

However, Terry Fontenot, Raheem Morris, and co. are confident in their plan. It is hard to fault them for playing for the future at the most important position in sports after the disaster they have been through since Matt Ryan left.

Penix took a couple of months to agree to his rookie contract. With the draft having slotted contracts, we already knew around how much the quarterback would make but now we have all of the details we need for his first contract.

We know that the rookie isn't going to start with Cousins' arrival. He is strictly here to absorb everything he can as he prepares to take the keys in the coming years. This also means the Atlanta Falcons will have to pay out a significant amount of money for a bench player. Let's take a look at just how much.

Michael Penix Jr. will make millions before he becomes a starter

This is nothing new, we see many players getting paid millions to not play. There are many reasons why this could be the case; free-agent disasters, draft busts, high-priced depth pieces, etc.

This is nothing against the Falcons and their decision-makers. They did what they needed to do to secure their future at the most important position.

The outline of Penix's contract is four years, $22.9 million with a fifth-year club option.

Barring injury, MPJ will start when the Falcons see a mix of his development and Cousins' play declining with his contract being feasible to move on from.

The point when Atlanta starts considering releasing their veteran quarterback is after the 2025 season. This means they would have paid their developing QB about $16 million. However, releasing Cousins becomes likely after 2026, meaning Penix would have $18.9 million in his pocket.

Comparing that with a similar situation in Green Bay, Jordan Love is coming off his first full season as a starter. He made about $10 million in his first three years and almost another $10 million this past season.

Penix will make more than Love did before starting (if everything goes according to plan), but that is to be expected since the Packers star QB was selected 26th overall.

If the Dirty Birds win a Super Bowl with either quarterback it will all be worth it. Time is the only thing that will tell us whether or not this was a good move.