if he ends up good who cares if he's 26. QB age chart is different than an NHLer age chart or someone like a running back or DB.
QB's don't even hit their prime until like 32
That's only half the picture, though.
The Falcons are financially tied to Cousins for two years, after which they can whack him with a tolerable cap hit. But similar to the Giants with Jones, cutting him or trading him before that point is financially disastrous cap-wise.
This means that Penix is probably gonna sit for the next two seasons. Then if he starts in his third season but doesn't completely ball out, the decision on picking up his fifth year option will become very, very murky. You'll be operating on one season of data which is the ultimate small sample size when dealing with QB contracts.
If you decline his option and tell him to 'prove it', and he does, then he's got you in a nasty box where you have to hit him with the franchise tag after four years and the QB tag is ALWAYS substantially higher than the option unless the QB is Mahomesian after the first four seasons and has amassed a SB victory plus other trophies. If you are forced into the tag route and want to sign him long term, you have zero flexibility on the guarantees because it's axiomatic that the MINIMUM is the total of the first QB tag plus the second QB tag which I think is like 130% of the first. By the time that decision has to be made the QB tag will be around or over fifty million dollars so you'd be locked into a guarantee of 115-120 million cash payout over two years.
That's why teams start their rookie QBs almost immediately. It's to get a picture of their performance in respect of the QB contract realities as much as anything else.
Arthur Blank has been crying all offseason about how he's 81 years old and wants to win now. That's why they signed Cousins, and the correct thing to do in that quest would have been to draft a player who can help you NOW, not two years down the road. I turned to my wife after the Falcons turned in the pick and said 'Is Fontenot trying to get fired? Because that pick was like a giant 'F You' to his boss.....also made me think that Fontenot was being passive aggressive because maybe Blank bigfooted him signing Cousins.