How Falcons’ Michael Penix Jr. navigates dynamic with Kirk Cousins | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

Mike Florio and Chris Simms examine how Michael Penix Jr. needs to be ready because no one knows how Kirk Cousins will recover from his injury and how the rookie is approaching the situation. #NBCSports #NFL #AtlantaFalcons
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How Falcons’ Michael Penix Jr. navigates dynamic with Kirk Cousins | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC
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how do you approach the noise the scrutiny that will be on you I mean I feel like at this level in NFL everybody in the spotlight you know U you got to prove yourself each and every day you know that’s that’s that’s the beauty of it that’s the beauty of this game you know and that’s that’s why it’s so rare you know for for guys to make it here you know it’s like the 1% you know but you always on the spotlight so for me I I’m just going to be myself each and every day you know not try to be anybody else and just go out there and put in the work like I always been and you know um you know and just the results Michael penx Jr eighth overall pick in the draft he’s in a tough spot he had no say over whether or not he was going to go to Atlanta yeah my guess would be if he had a chance to pick his first destination he would not have picked the destination that picked him sure why would you want to do it reminds me of Jordan love four years ago he was the only guy I felt sorry for in the whole Green Bay Aaron Rogers Shakespearean mess because he’s the one who got forced into it yeah to be caught between coaching staff front office delicate genius I don’t want this I want to go somewhere and play right and based upon what we saw year four of his career he should have been playing all along he said three years of his life wasted sitting on the bench when he could have been playing and getting better yeah but Michael penck can’t say that yeah he’s in a tough spot and he’s the one out there because of the rookie mini camp he’s the one answering the questions I want to hear from Kirk Cousins yeah oh we all do I mean we of course we do I mean he’s the one that we know is going to be more emotional about this probably than than than Michael penck right but like where this is different even than Jordan love is this is a guy that’s more ready than Jordan love right I I think there so he’s this is not like oh we got to bring him along and we know he’s raw and all that right also too like I think it’s you know a guy he’s got an unbelievable arm he’s played a lot of football he’s got a little bit of Aura and standing as far as like hey even NFL players been watching Michael pennx the last few years going damn he’s pretty good where I find it interesting and what’s crazy about this whole situation too to me is just that you know it’s a weird situation like you said but at the same time he has the least pressure on him out of all the guys I think right so he can just go out and let it fly every day he’s not worried about like oh I got to be the starter I’m definitely going to be the starter he can he can kind of play a little bit more loose which we we’ll see could be a good thing you know as far as for him or it could be a bad thing and maybe he gets too loose and careless with the football at practice or whatever else but I would bet on the other that it’s going to be a little bit more like hey let me just be aggressive here and just let it fly a little bit and I’m not expected to play or take things over and let’s go from there but that’s what’s weird about the whole thing is he’s going to thrive in that and he’s mature and he’s ready to play and he’s older and ready to go too and that’s the craziness of this whole pick here he is on the balance between wanting to play yeah and necessarily playing the go over there and watch the other guy play game until they’re ready for him to play here he is I mean we we’re on the same team you know it’s not hard to approach that relationship you know we got the same goals and that’s that’s seeing this team win football game so you know for me is just you know um just being able to you know uh connect with him you know get to know him as a not just a player but as a person as well you know so I I look forward to that and um you know it’s definitely going to be great you know I’m super super blessed to be able to be you know um right right here in this position right now you know obviously with a veteran in front of me right now and uh just learning from him and you know is going about my business teaching every day uh just uh trying to find ways to improve and you know get get to where he is you know more multiple years in the leag so that’s what I want I apologize I gave you the wrong s there that’s about the relationship between Michael penck and kurk cousins and if you were watching carefully and you know what we do here we watch the body language the facial expressions no hands on his face at all until he said he’s super blessed and he he does that right and that’s I’m telling you he’s young I mean when you’re young you don’t realize you’re doing it when you get older you realize this is you know it’s there’s a little bit of a tell there but he’s in a tough spot cuz what else can he say if he says what he’s feeling that’s the biggest story in the NFL yeah Michael Pennock airs out the Falcons for you know why did they take me hey I don’t know what I’m doing here guys you want to know what I’m doing here I don’t know either if any of you find out let me know because they have a starting quarterback I don’t know why they drafted me maybe I shouldn’t have put that that letter to all GMS in the players Tribune it worked it worked too well I would have rather gone to the Raiders at 13 at least I’d be playing yeah no he’s going to be frustrated he is he’s going to look at it and go damn he’s going to look at some of the other guys that were drafted ahead of him and go damn they’re playing they’re getting experience I’m a little older I’m sitting here on the bench wait I got more Talent than this guy why don’t they let me play but he’ll do the right things we know that you know that’s the one good you know thing about Michael penx Jr being around him a little bit what you hear about him hey he’s he’s he’s he understands the deal and at the same time he can sit there and go wait this you know even though they paid this guy a lot of money they obviously like me and I am the future because that’s a bold pick so he can feel comfortable about that that’s the good thing but yeah he’s going to deal with some frustrations and you know again like we talk about with the kurk cousins and the injury and yeah he’s going to be farther along mentally like Mike Michael penck says and sure he’s going to know some checks and what to do and all that right but I have a hard time thinking like kurk cousins is going to be moving quite at 100% popping his legs to really drive the football and in this meantime we’re going to have a quarterback that’s going to be doing that and he’s going to open eyes and that’s going to put more pressure on the situation too because everybody’s been talking about did you see Michael penck throw today did you see his arm and all of that stuff is going to start to filter through the locker room the head coach Raheem Morris said recently that cousins is quote pretty much full go end quote for phase two of the offseason program well pretty much full go isn’t he’s perfectly fine and everything’s healed and he’s fully recovered and he’s cleared pretty much full go is an equivocation pretty what does that mean pretty much full Go I mean pretty much not full go yeah pretty much full goal means that he probably can partake in every aspect of OTAs except maybe when we get around offense and defense linemen right if we have a period like that where it’s full team 11 on 11 and even though we know the quarterback is not live right those would be the situations I would bet they’d go well Kirk get out of there we want somebody to step on you by accident or you you know get knocked off by somebody falling over whatever it might be and I would think that’s what it means more than anything but anything without a line in front of him I think he’s you know probably going to take those reps well and we’ll see how it goes I promised earlier the sound from Michael penck on balance here it is striking the balance between being on the bench and waiting and getting out there and playing here he is I feel like for me it’s just like just being being humble and being unselfish you know obviously this is the ultimate team sport you know the football is the ultimate team sport so you know if you if you’re on a team you know you can’t make it about you at any point in time you know so for me I’m just trying to find ways to help help the team be better you know improve each and every day you know that’s that’s what it’s all about you know um I just got to come in and do my job I’ve been through adversity I’ve been I’ve been at moments where I wasn’t on the field you know just waiting my turn you know so you know it’s I’m back in that position again and you know whenever my time comes and whenever my numbers it’s called I just got to make sure I’m ready this creates an awkward reality for both quarterbacks and it puts Raheem Morris in a position where when he talks to Kirk Cousins it’s you’re our guy you’re our guy you’re our guy you’re a guy and when he talks to Michael penck it’s be ready be ready be ready you saw what happened to the old guy at Lambo field last year pop went the Achilles right you’re one play away yeah you got to be ready we may need you we need you to be ready because we may need you in any given moment oh Kirk hang on Kirk you’re still our guy be ready right cuz our guy we don’t know how long is going to be our guy yeah I I think that’s fair right I mean and again too with that kind of injury throughout time we we see that sometimes the other leg cuz it’s being overworked cuz you’re favoring the bad leg that’s when you see an injury happen there you know especially at the age Kirk Cousins is at yeah you worry about all those things pulling a calf muscle right those are sometimes the residual effects of the Achilles cuz there’s so much tightness up there and the legs in shape yet all of a sudden they’re dealing with a calf injury for half the season because that’s pulled I mean this can go a lot of different ways now that’s the the greatness of them taking Michael penck right the Michael Pennock thing as we know it’s weird it’s the two biggest assets on your football team they put him at the same position and that doesn’t make sense in the modern day in NFL but at the same time for the situation they’re in with Kirk Cousins older quarterback paid them a lot of money all of that yeah at least they do have some sort of insurance policy behind that to protect them with Michael penck when if something does happen to cousins I remember when Carson Palmer suffered the tour ACL in the 2005 wild card game against the Steelers kimoon olhoff and came in low and hot back when it was legal to do that toward the ACL and it took him a year to get comfortable with traffic around his his his front leg did the same thing too so so for cousins I don’t know how that manifests itself and I don’t know when that goes away but will that be baggage on him mentally every time he goes back and plants and moves is something going to pop is is the one that went going to hold up is the other one going to go do you forget about that at some point I mean you had a different thing cuz you only have one spleen right and it’s not like you can reinjure it it’s gone but there’s got to be some process of working through getting comfortable again because you got basically shot like like you know sniper bullet and I had no idea this was going to happen it happened when’s the next sniper bullet going to hit my leg Yeah I think it’s it’s it’s uh it’s definitely going to be in the back of his mind and there’s going to be phases of recovery mentally as far as how the injury goes too you you go through a a phase of wait just do I feel right like oh let me be careful like you said stepping up in the pocket making any like aggressive move right and then it’s going to be oh I feel good doing all that that’s out of my mind but then it’s going to become oh wait let me be extra careful of people around my legs right let me just get the ball of my hand because there’s people around my legs and all that and that’s what you worry about you worry about the the you know unconscious or what do you want to say self-consciousness of that affecting your decisionmaking as players playing the quarterback position does that make sense and you got the eighth overall pick on the sidelines if you start screwing up because you’re thinking too much if you’re not get yeah and if you’re not getting it done they may accelerate the timetable well for the other guy yeah I mean these are all crazy things that can happen it’s still the crazy it’s still one of the craziest I can like I’m not even joking when I talk like I talked to some NFL people on Saturday right it’s still one of the top three subjects people talk about in the NFL like when I I haven’t caught up with this person in a while right and there it’s like one of the first thing that come up like that about what about Atlanta and cousins and all that is that crazy uhhuh like this is still everybody’s talking about this around the NFL it is odd and uh yeah we’ll see where it goes for Atlanta I still think that he could get traded and will get traded either after two years or maybe after one maybe it may be after one year A lot’s going to happen between now and the end of this season and we’ll know whether or not it buys one more year for cousins but I think two years is it and how can you justify how can you justify sitting Michael penck for three years right it has to be that’s what I expect too Mike hi it’s Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk