Patriots/NFL 2024 Off Season: Free Agency, Draft Part II

[Johnnyduke]

WTF are the Falcons doing?

Now I'm torn because there's nothing not to like about Penix but I want this to fail spectacularly for the Falcons

 

[DNE3]

They have holes all over the defense. Why not trade back, acquire picks, and draft on that side?
Penix is most likely going to be 27 before he starts for them barring Cousins getting injured.
Very strange pick.

Atlanta ranked 11th defence leaguewide. Need pass rush help. Cousins got boatload of money at 35? Joe Flacco carried Cleveland age 39. Jayden Daniels will be 24 this year. Older the better. Younger not mature enough for the most part.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

 

[JRull86]

Atlanta ranked 11th defence leaguewide. Need pass rush help. Cousins got boatload of money at 35? Joe Flacco carried Cleveland age 39. Jayden Daniels will be 24 this year. Older better. Younger not mature enough.

They have no edge rushers, their secondary is very subpar. They are solid in the middle of the line and at the second level with LBs.

Joe Flacco also turned into a pumpkin the second he played a half decent team in the playoffs. Who cares.

Doesn't matter if Jayden Daniels is 24, he's going to start this season. Penix best cass scenario is starting for Sept 2026, most likely is Sept 2027, at age 27..going into his 5th year option.

Drafting a QB...which should've been literally last on their list, at 8, is a massive f*** up by them.

 

[yazmybaby]

WTF are the Falcons doing?

This pick stunned me.
Penix is an insurance policy if Cousins has health issues.
Assuming Cousins plays for at least 3 years, Penix will be 27 YO when he starts and 2 years left on his contract.
If I was him, I would not be happy sitting for 3 years.
I thought the Falcons would have taken someone on defense.

 

[EverettMike]

Atlanta ranked 11th defence leaguewide. Need pass rush help. Cousins got boatload of money at 35? Joe Flacco carried Cleveland age 39. Jayden Daniels will be 24 this year. Older the better. Younger not mature enough for the most part.

Huh? You can only play one QB at a time, and Cousins' absurd contract is fully guaranteed the first two seasons.

You only take Penix if he's young cause you literally can't rush him. Instead he might start when he's 27.

 

[DNE3]

They have no edge rushers, their secondary is very subpar. They are solid in the middle of the line and at the second level with LBs.
Joe Flacco also turned into a pumpkin the second he played a half decent team in the playoffs. Who cares.
Doesn't matter if Jayden Daniels is 24, he's going to start this season. Penix best cass scenario is starting for Sept 2026, most likely is Sept 2027, at age 27..going into his 5th year option.
Drafting a QB...which should've been literally last on their list, at 8, is a massive f*** up by them.

Everybody on board it appears. Could be something in the water down there. They happy. Why should I be unhappy.

 

[DNE3]

Huh? You can only play one QB at a time, and Cousins' absurd contract is fully guaranteed the first two seasons. You only take Penix if he's young cause you literally can't rush him. Instead he might start when he's 27.

Green Bay drafted Aaron Rodgers only to sit behind Brett Favre for three years. Happened before.

 

[BernieMcAvoy]

If they can trade 34 for Deebo or Aiyuk then they need to do it, get that legit number one wr for your young qb. Otherwise trade down or take Patrick Paul if they don't think he will be there in a potential trade down. There's way more pass catchers than tackles with potential in the 3rd or 4th round.

 

[BMC]

Now don't let Maye down like you did Mac. Let him sit. Do it the right way.

They won't. Not with the money they'll have to pay him as the #3 overall pick. The days of letting your high draft picks learn slowly are pretty much over, too much $ is invested in them to let them sit on the bench.

Now they need to get him decent OLmen to protect him & decent receivers to throw the ball to.

Good luck kid. You're going to need it.

 

[RoccoF14]

If they can trade 34 for Deebo or Aiyuk then they need to do it, get that legit number one wr for your young qb. Otherwise trade down or take Patrick Paul if they don't think he will be there in a potential trade down. There's way more pass catchers than tackles with potential in the 3rd or 4th round.

I don't think NE gets either one of those guys for just #34 by itself. I think SF is going to want a little more.

You make a trade like that, when you feel you are close to contending and you need an extra piece to put you over the top. You don't make that move during a rebuild.

....and NE is in a rebuild.

 

[EvilDead]

Now don't let Maye down like you did Mac. Let him sit. Do it the right way.

Maye can't sit. Not after being selected at number three. The impetus is on Wolf, Groh, Mayo, and company to put the right pieces around him on O-Line and receiver rather than take them away out of spite like Bill did Mac.

 

[RoccoF14]

Maye can't sit. Not after being selected at number three. The impetus is on Wolf, Groh, Mayo, and company to put the right pieces around him on O-Line and receiver rather than take them away out of spite like Bill did Mac.

But they aren't going to have the "right pieces" around him overnight. This is a bad football team, that won 4 games. And no, they didn't underachieve. That's what they are.

This isn't getting fixed with 1 draft and one season of Free Agency.. There isn't a need to rush him as a starter, unless he simply wows you over the summer/pre-season.

 

[KOZ37]

Huh? You can only play one QB at a time, and Cousins' absurd contract is fully guaranteed the first two seasons.

You only take Penix if he's young cause you literally can't rush him. Instead he might start when he's 27.

At the very least they likely could have traded back to 11 with Minnesota and drafted him there with more draft capital. Just was wrong on so many levels. Not to mention probably pissed off Cousins.

 

[EverettMike]

Green Bay drafted Aaron Rodgers only to sit behind Brett Favre for three years. Happened before.

Rodgers was 21!!

 

[EvilDead]

They aren't going to have the "right pieces" around him overnight. This is a bad football team, that won 4 games. And no, they didn't underachieve. That's what they are.

This isn't getting fixed with 1 draft and one season of Free Agency.. There isn't a need to rush him as a starter, unless he simply wows you over the summer/pre-season.

They were a bad football team because of Bill Belichick. You missed that key detail there. And guess what? Belichick isn't here anymore and the team now has the ability to do this thing called...getting talent instead of special teamers? Without Bill looming over the entire proceedings, I fully expect this team to show signs of a turnaround and actually pick up the right players to put Drake Maye in a position to succeed. It won't be "Hey we're back in the playoffs boys" and everything is immediately better, but I would like to believe that Mayo is going to get this team moving in the right direction and do right by his new QB the way Bill didn't do with Mac.

 

[RoccoF14]

They were a bad football team because of Bill Belichick. You missed that key detail there. And guess what? Belichick isn't here anymore and the team now has the ability to do this thing called...getting talent instead of special teamers? Without Bill looming over the entire proceedings, I fully expect this team to show signs of a turnaround and actually pick up the right players to put Drake Maye in a position to succeed. Primarily because they have to or the fans will get pissed. It won't be "Hey we're back in the playoffs boys" and everything is immediately better, but I would like to believe that Mayo is going to get this team moving in the right direction and do right by his new QB the way Bill didn't do with Mac.

They're awful because of Bill Belichick the Player Personnel Guy. Not Bill Belichick the Coach.

That roster is thin, and was one of the oldest in the NFL last year. Years of draft/FA futility doesn't get fixed overnight. That's all I'm trying to say.

I know some Pats fans want to play with their shiny new QB Toy right away. I just think you need to tread carefully there, until they get a little more settled on the offensive side of the ball. That was the whole point of signing Brissett in the first place.

 

[CDJ]

1) Cousins coming off a torn Achilles. That team is a QB away from the playoffs so this gives them insurance if Cousins goes down again it will be ok- I think Penix is good enough to take that great supporting cast to the playoffs

2) QB is such an important position that if you truly believe a guy is a difference maker/future franchise QB then you pick him and figure out the rest. Clearly that is what Atlanta thinks of Penix, right or wrong


People talk about his age but that’s not a big concern for me, he’s a pocket passer who won’t be taking any damage his first year or two in the league.


Now I wouldn’t have picked him at 8 but I can sort of see the logic if you truly believe in the guy

 

[RoccoF14]

1) Cousins coming off a torn Achilles

2) QB is such an important position that if you truly believe a guy is a difference maker/future franchise QB then you pick him and figure out the rest. Clearly that is what Atlanta thinks of Penix, right or wrong

Yep. You can debate that pick until you're blue in the face and you've provided the counter argument. Personally, I don't like the pick but I get the thinking, even though I don't agree with it.

I DO know 2 things however:

1. Atlanta completely screwed Las Vegas over with that pick because I would have bet my house that the Raiders were expecting to take Penix at 13.

2. Bo Nix and his agent are VERY happy right now, because that Penix pick probably bumped him up at least 10-15 spots. I don't think Denver takes him at 12, if Penix is still available. They go Bowers and then try to trade up to the back end of the 1st or early 2nd.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Green Bay drafted Aaron Rodgers only to sit behind Brett Favre for three years. Happened before.

Come on. Rodgers was three years younger than Penix, a better QB prospect, and was drafted at the end of the first round - not a top ten pick.

It's absurd on multiple levels.

 

[EvilDead]

They're awful because of Bill Belichick the Player Personnel Guy. Not Bill Belichick the Coach.

That roster is thin, and was one of the oldest in the NFL last year. Years of draft/FA futility doesn't get fixed overnight. That's all I'm trying to say.

I know some Pats fans want to play with their shiny new QB Toy right away. I just think you need to tread carefully there, until they get a little more settled on the offensive side of the ball. That was the whole point of signing Brissett in the first place.

The issue is that Bill the GM made things ten times harder for Bill the Coach and his coaching staff. He lowered the floor of the team significantly every single year in the final five years of his tenure. I don't want to hear about age or any of that. All of that could've been avoided if Bill didn't make the team in a way that was comfortable for him to coach rather than win football games. I understand it's not going to get fixed overnight, but to expect that they don't do something better than a roster of a 4-13 team next season is asinine. This team has to move things in a more positive direction so they don't f*** up with Drake Maye the way Bill f***ed up with Mac Jones. Despite what people may argue here, this kid is drawing comparisons to Trubisky as a prospect for a worse case scenario. If that ends up happening all because the Patriots don't build around him, then they will have wasted a high value pick when they could've gotten Marvin Harrison Jr and signed a free agent QB.

Furthermore, as much as I agree that Brissett should eat some snaps early on before Maye goes out there, taking a QB at number three overall makes that harder to justify. Especially if the roster isn't up to scratch. If the roster is the same around Brissett as it will be Maye, what's the point of letting a lesser QB eat bad shots and throw away games? This team needs to

Come on. Rodgers was three years younger than Penix, a better QB prospect, and was drafted at the end of the first round - not a top ten pick.

It's absurd on multiple levels.

Bingo.

If the 49ers had Alex Smith sit behind somebody after taking him first overall, everyone in San Francisco would've been calling for the head of the GM, coach, and owner all at once. Penix was drafted at the top half of the draft and is in his mid 20s. He needs to start now.

 

[EverettMike]

1) Cousins coming off a torn Achilles. That team is a QB away from the playoffs so this gives them insurance if Cousins goes down again it will be ok- I think Penix is good enough to take that great supporting cast to the playoffs

2) QB is such an important position that if you truly believe a guy is a difference maker/future franchise QB then you pick him and figure out the rest. Clearly that is what Atlanta thinks of Penix, right or wrong


People talk about his age but that’s not a big concern for me, he’s a pocket passer who won’t be taking any damage his first year or two in the league.


Now I wouldn’t have picked him at 8 but I can sort of see the logic if you truly believe in the guy

His age is a problem because you have a QB on the roster with a contract like Cousins. If they drafted him 8 to play for them this year I'd still think it was a bad move at 8 but I would at least understand it. But he's overaged and has to sit, all while most people had him as a mid to late round pick in the first round, not top 8. It's not like he's a can't miss prospect with insane upside.

 

[KrejciMVP]

paying a career loser like Cousins all that money seems way worse than drafting penix imo

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The issue is that Bill the GM made things ten times harder for Bill the Coach and his coaching staff. He lowered the floor of the team significantly every single year in the final five years of his tenure. I don't want to hear about age or any of that. All of that could've been avoided if Bill didn't make the team in a way that was comfortable for him to coach rather than win football games. I understand it's not going to get fixed overnight, but to expect that they don't do something better than a roster of a 4-13 team next season is asinine. This team has to move things in a more positive direction so they don't f*** up with Drake Maye the way Bill f***ed up with Mac Jones. Despite what people may argue here, this kid is drawing comparisons to Trubisky as a prospect for a worse case scenario. If that ends up happening all because the Patriots don't build around him, then they will have wasted a high value pick when they could've gotten Marvin Harrison Jr and signed a free agent QB.

Furthermore, as much as I agree that Brissett should eat some snaps early on before Maye goes out there, taking a QB at number three overall makes that harder to justify. Especially if the roster isn't up to scratch. If the roster is the same around Brissett as it will be Maye, what's the point of letting a lesser QB eat bad shots and throw away games? This team needs to



Bingo.

If the 49ers had Alex Smith sit behind somebody after taking him first overall, everyone in San Francisco would've been calling for the head of the GM, coach, and owner all at once. Penix was drafted at the top half of the draft and is in his mid 20s. He needs to start now.

Was it time to make a change? Yes

Was Bill the GM the problem? No

This offseason makes it pretty clear what the issue is with the organization and its in the owner's box. $100m in cap space and a haul of impact FA available and their "spend money, no business as usual" plan is to re-sign their own average FAs from a 4-13 team? Wooo...

The Krafts are clearly meddling and running things on an internal budget.

 

[CDJ]

His age is a problem because you have a QB on the roster with a contract like Cousins. If they drafted him 8 to play for them this year I'd still think it was a bad move at 8 but I would at least understand it. But he's overaged and has to sit, all while most people had him as a mid to late round pick in the first round, not top 8. It's not like he's a can't miss prospect with insane upside.

We don’t think that but they clearly do

I will say- that game against Texas remains one of the most impressive passing performances I’ve ever seen in college football