The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to contract terms with quarterback Michael Penix Jr., their first-round pick, according to multiple media reports on Friday.
Penix, selected eighth overall out of Washington, is getting a four-year rookie deal valued at $22.88 million, including a $13.46 million signing bonus.
All contracts involving first-round selections include a fifth-year team option.
The Falcons have invested heavily in the quarterback position. Six weeks before the draft, they signed veteran free agent Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal that includes $100 million guaranteed.
Cousins, who will turn 36 before the regular-season begins, is looking to come back from a right Achilles tendon tear that ended his 2023 season in October with the Minnesota Vikings.
That commitment made all the more surprising Atlanta’s decision to use a first-round selection on a quarterback. Penix was the fourth signal caller drafted out of a record-tying six first-round QB picks.
Penix, 24, is coming off a spectacular senior season in which he led the Huskies to the national championship game. He threw for a national-high 4,903 yards and had 36 touchdown passes while getting intercepted 11 times.
He wound up as the Heisman Trophy runner-up behind LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and Penix captured the Maxwell Award, which goes to the country’s top college football player. Each of the past two seasons, Penix broke Washington’s single-season passing record.
Penix is expected to formally sign the contract on Friday, according to media reports, and complete the Falcons’ eight-player draft class signings. He has participated in every offseason training session from rookie minicamp to OTAs and the mandatory minicamp.
–Field Level Media