Expert Analysis
4/25/24
4 min read
Michael Penix Jr. 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Atlanta Falcons QB
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Michael Penix Jr.
Michael Penix Jr.'s 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 6'2"
- Weight: 216 pounds
- 40-yard dash: Did Not Participate (DNP)
- 10-yard split: DNP
- Vertical jump: DNP
- Broad jump: DNP
Michael Penix Jr. 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- Good-sized quarterback with quick, compact delivery with little range of motion. Can generate velocity when it's demanded.
- Consistently plays with pocket mentality, looking to work through progressions and get the ball to receivers.
- Shows pocket traits of working through progressions and the subtle movement to avoid pressure and deliver.
- Makes intermediate throws vs. zone coverage with a refined sense of timing and anticipation. Aggressive.
- Flashes subtle pocket movement, maintaining his balance and throwing on-platform to deliver with a firm base.
- Has snaps in which he eliminated and isolated within structure and timing of route concept. Quick processor.
- Patient in the pocket working through progressions, comfortably coming to his checkdowns when necessary.
- Eyes and feet are consistently married as he works through progressions. Stays within structure of play.
- Shows the movement ability and awareness to make second-reaction throws. Can play outside of structure.
- High consistency level of precise ball location on different kinds of throws. Throws with velocity and touch.
- At his core is a timing- and rhythm-passer executing and distributing within the structure of the pass game.
- What consistently stands out is he's highly accountable to the system and the pass game concepts.
- In 2023, drove the ball with easy velocity. Threw a tight spiral that accelerated but was highly catchable.
- Shows arm strength to sit on his back foot in the pocket and make throws downfield with ball placement.
- Innate feel for the pocket with drops and sets that sync up effectively with route concepts. Executes pass game.
- Comfortable pocket movement to find a quiet place to deliver the ball. Re-sets platform to make vertical throws.
- Understands leverage of defenders and how that affects ball placement. Shows nuanced understanding of high-level pocket play.
- Has movement ability to make second-reaction off-script throws and enough functional mobility to make throws.
Weaknesses
- Throws with a wide base, which often makes it appear as if he is pushing the ball and working hard to throw it.
- Has a tendency to take an extra hitch in the pocket on intermediate throws with result being that he's often a beat late.
- In 2023, showed a low, almost-sidearm delivery that reduced his height significantly and made it appear as if he’s 5-foot-10.
- His ball placement must be more consistently precise for a pocket quarterback. Had too many misses on throws that were there.
- Overall ball placement is a bit erratic, and that’s a concern given that 95 percent of his game will be from the pocket.
- Fluctuates between absolute, pinpoint accuracy at all levels and scratch-your-head, can’t-believe-it misses.
NFL Transition
Penix will have a fascinating transition to the next level given his traits profile and the offense he played in at Washington that featured a foundational intermediate and vertical passing game.
There is no question that, based on his 2022 and 2023 tape, Penix is the best intermediate and deep-ball passer in the 2024 quarterback draft class. He has a strong arm that can drive the ball with velocity and has consistently precise ball placement on more difficult downfield throws.
One thing that stands out in Penix's 2022 and 2023 tape is how accountable he is to the system with his drops and sets and his timing and rhythm playing to and within the structure of the designed passing game. He shows the ability to work through progressions with clarity and decisiveness and an understanding of defensive structures and coverage. He got the ball out to his receivers while rarely getting sacked.
One question with Penix will be his overall efficiency — more specifically, his vision and ball placement when there are bodies around him. At times, he shows a tendency to lose the broader picture of the defense and both throw into dangerous areas and lose some of his precise ball location.
Overall, Penix exhibits the core principles to be a higher-level NFL quarterback:
-Strong arm talent with precise ball placement at all three levels;
-Ability to work through progressions with decisiveness and an understanding of defensive structures and coverages; and
-An aggressive mindset turning the ball loose at the intermediate and deeper levels with the willingness to throw to air.
My sense is Penix will need a strong pass-protecting offensive line so that the offense can get all five eligible receivers out into routes and so he can consistently work the intermediate and deeper of the field, which is a strength of his game.
Other Notes
Penix transferred to Washington after spending four seasons at Indiana, where he went 12-5 as a starter. Penix was a two-year starter for the Huskies, throwing for more than 9,000 yards with 67 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
In 2022, almost 90 percent of Penix's dropbacks came out of the shotgun. Play-action was featured on 22 percent of his shotgun dropbacks — Penix was 71-111 (64 percent) and had 9.05 yards per attempt with seven touchdowns and one interception. (He only had 10 play-action dropbacks from under center.) In 2022, Penix had 573 dropbacks and threw the ball on 554 of them. In short, Penix has a pocket-thrower mentality.
What stands out watching Washington’s offense is the extensive deployment of shifting and motion and the use of cut splits and bunch formations — and Penix's significant snaps as a shotgun dropback passer with NFL route concepts at the intermediate and deeper levels.
When you factor in pass game concepts and scheme, Penix will likely have a much easier NFL transition relatively speaking than many of the other quarterbacks in the 2023 draft class. Devin Culp's 22-yard touchdown vs. USC showed Penix second-reaction ability, and Rome Odunze's 24-yarder vs. Texas was an outstanding example of Penix's high-level pocket movement.
