Atlanta Falcons senior reporter Tori McElhaney put together her sixth mock draft Wednesday, and while one of her picks could potentially be spot-on, another pick had The Morning Shift up in arms.
McElhaney mocked Alabama edge-rusher Dallas Turner to the Falcons at 8, but with the 43rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft she had the Falcons selecting University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Yeah, safe to say Mike Johnson and Beau Morgan were not in agreement with that pick.
“If your secondary is getting ripped to shreds next year, and that’s the gaping hole on your team and you didn’t address it when you could’ve got a Kool-Aid McKinstry or a Kamari Lassiter to be a starter in that second round then that’s GM malpractice,” Beau Morgan said.
Part of McElhaney’s reasoning for having the Falcons draft Penix Jr. with the 43rd overall pick is the “hopes of landing someone who can sit behind Cousins for a couple years before conversations of his future playing time truly begin.”
Mike Johnson doesn’t agree with that reasoning at all.
“No they do not need to be thinking about a succession plan at 43, they don't," said Johnson. "They don’t need to be thinking about a succession plan at 43. They need to be thinking about how to best support Kirk Cousins and this defense who they still have a number of holes with at 43.”
Tiffany Blackmon is neither for nor against the Falcons drafting a quarterback with their second-round pick, but she does understand where McElhaney is coming from.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a quarterback like Michael Penix sit behind a guy like Kirk Cousins,” Blackmon said.
Mike and Beau are OK with the Falcons drafting a quarterback like Jordan Travis or Spencer Rattler in the later rounds of the draft if they’re there, but they both feel like the Falcons have too many holes and needs on defense to draft a potential quarterback of the future with the 43rd overall pick.
The Falcons obviously need an edge-rusher, cornerback, another wide receiver, and it wouldn’t hurt them to get more defensive line help as well. Nowhere on that list was quarterback, and to Beau’s point a second-round pick should be a starter. If the Falcons draft Penix Jr. with their 43rd overall pick he would not be a starter for at least two years, barring injury.
