Mike Sando of The Athletic cites an anonymous NFL executive who criticized the Falcons’ decision to sign Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal and still draft Michael Penix at No. 8 overall.
“How you could go through free agency and think to yourself, ‘Penix is our guy, but let’s give $100 million to Kirk Cousins just in case Penix doesn’t fall to us at 8’?” an executive said. “Come on, man.”
Another executive thinks they made a foolish choice to trade up for second-round DT Ruke Orhorhoro when they could’ve landed DT Johnny Newton, who went to the Commanders.
“They had the guy from Illinois (Johnny Newton), who is a perfect fit for Raheem Morris’ defense as a three-technique, sitting on the board,” an executive said.
One executive believes drafting Penix means something may have gone wrong in Cousins’ rehab from a torn Achilles.
“There’s only one thing I could think of that would allow them to do that, and is that something happened in Kirk’s rehab (from a torn Achilles tendon) between when he signed and draft day that made them feel like, ‘Oh my god, we might not have him for more than a year,’” another executive said.
Panthers GM Dan Morgan said the team will be aggressive on the waiver wire this year due to them having the pole position in terms of order.
“So I think the pretty cool thing about us right now, we don’t want this to be every year, but we’re first in the waiver wire transactions,” he said, via Panthers Wire. “So anybody that gets cut, we’re gonna have first dibs to be able to claim them. I think we’ll be aggressive there. I think if the right opportunity presented itself, the right player presented themself—that we’d have the opportunity to claim ’em and get ’em on our roster.”
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!