The first 12 picks in the 2024 draft included six quarterbacks. With Falcons quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. now promoted to starter in Atlanta, five of the six are playing.
Three earned the Week 1 jobs: Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (first overall), Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (second overall), and Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (twelfth overall). Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, the third overall pick, made his first start in Week 6.
And now, with Week 16 looming, Penix finally will play. (Only Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the tenth overall pick, hasn’t played. And he won’t, due to a knee injury suffered in the preseason.)
Penix has made a couple of garbage-time cameo appearances, during the 34-14 loss to the Seahawks and the 38-6 blowout at the Broncos. He has thrown five passes, completing three. His passer rating is 83.7 — which is significant because Cousins’s rating slipped under 80 in each of his final five starts.
So how good will Penix be? He only has to be a little better than Cousins has been. And the bar has gotten very low in recent weeks.
