NFC Notes: Michael Penix Jr., Spencer Rattler, Falcons, Panthers, Saints

Falcons

Falcons assistant GM Kyle Smith said selecting first-round QB Michael Penix Jr. in the first round was about solidifying the most important position in sports.

“For the next five years, we feel great about the position. Minimum,” Smith said, via Around The NFL. “It was an unsettling feeling, sitting there in ’21,” Smith added. “I’ll never forget sitting there with (GM) Terry (Fontenot) and being like, ‘OK, well, what’s our future? What’s our plan for the future? How are we going to solidify down the road? It’s not just about this year or next year. It’s about five years minimum.”

Smith believes that Penix can be the team’s quarterback of the future.

“This is the first year that we were sitting there and staring down the barrel at a player that we think can be that guy,” Smith said.

Smith added that drafting a quarterback in the first round has nothing to do with their belief or commitment to Kirk Cousins.

“What we did to get Kirk Cousins should tell everybody what we believe in Kirk Cousins,” Smith said. “He’s our guy. We set ourselves up. Then, in the draft, Michael Penix was there. It’s a quarterback — a young quarterback — that we believe in. We pulled that trigger. I mean, that’s as clear as I can say it.”

• Penix Jr.’s mother Takisha Penix on his injury-filled collegiate career at Indiana: “He knew he had it in him. He knew what he could do. It was just that he had never been able to show it and let everybody see it. … That, and we knew. We know. We feel it, that he’s a top quarterback.” (Tori McElhaney)

Panthers

New Panthers HC Dave Canales’ main goal for the upcoming season is to put 2023 first-round QB Bryce Young in the best possible position to have success. Canales talked about creating a solid foundation to make Young’s life as easy as possible.

“I think it’s not about surrounding Bryce with great players; it’s about building a great team, and then Bryce can just do his part of it,” Canales said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s official website. “That’s my goal. That’s my heart for this whole thing. I want him to be able to feel like he can just come and just do his 1/11th. If he can just do his part, look at the great teams he was a part of in Alabama. He won a lot of games when they had a good offense and a good defense. He did his part, and he played big in big moments, and I would love to create that here so he can just do that part of it and not make it about him.”

“The pass game will be specific to Bryce, will become that, you know, it will become what he’s confident with and what he can do… But I just kind of want to try to build the team the right way.”

Saints

Regarding Saints’ fifth-round QB Spencer Rattler, Mike Sando of The Athletic cites an anonymous NFL executive who believes Rattler showed maturity and is “really coachable.” 

“The history doesn’t help him, but if you don’t do the research, you won’t know that he’s matured,” the executive said. “He has matured, he has personality, he has some swag and he’s really coachable.”

Another executive’s team had Saints’ second-round CB Kool-Aid McKinstry rated ahead of Lions’ first-round CB Terrion Arnold. 

“We really liked McKinstry’s physical style of play, which very much aligns with New Orleans,” an executive said. “We had him over Terrion Arnold (among corners in this class).”