The Atlanta Falcons made a big splash in free agency this offseason by signing Kirk Cousins, a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback, to a sizable deal.
Cousins will turn 36 years of age this summer and is coming off a torn Achilles he suffered midway through last season, but the Falcons feel he will be their first legitimate signal-caller since Matt Ryan was in his prime several years ago.
On draft day in April, Atlanta also had the opportunity to acquire a fourth-round draft pick from the Chicago Bears if they agreed to give up their No. 8 overall pick for the No. 9 pick so Chicago could take wide receiver Rome Odunze at No. 8.
Atlanta said no, and Ari Meirov tweeted a video of that decision being made.
The #Bears were open to trading a future 4th to the #Falcons to move from 9 to 8 to secure Rome Odunze.
Seems like Atlanta wasn’t interested. The Bears still got Odunze.
But this feels noteworthy after Atlanta lost a future 5th this week for tampering.pic.twitter.com/cB2kAn7fmO
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 14, 2024
As it turned out, the Bears still got Odunze at No. 9, while the Falcons made a curious decision at No. 8.
Despite having already signed Cousins, they took Michael Penix Jr., a quarterback from the University of Washington, which had everyone asking what the Falcons were thinking.
Perhaps they took Penix because of Cousins’ age and Achilles injury so that they could be set at QB for many years to come if Penix turns out to be the real deal.
Both the Falcons and Bears could’ve potentially made the same choices in the first round had they made the deal that they discussed, and after the Falcons lost a fifth-round pick due to tampering allegations, the sting of losing that pick would’ve been lessened.
As it is, Atlanta, who went 7-10 last year, doesn’t have a mighty impressive roster right now, but they do have a solid young wide receiver in Drake London, as well as a potential star running back in Bijan Robinson.
