On Thursday evening, general manager Terry Fontenot and the Atlanta Falcons sent shockwaves throughout the NFL landscape when it was announced that they would be drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr.–who just finished leading his Washington Huskies all the way to the college football playoff national championship game–with the number eight pick they owned in the recent NFL Draft.  Making the move controversial was the fact that the Falcons had just recently signed quarterback Kirk Cousins, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, to a multi-year contract worth well north of $100 million in free agency, causing many to question why they would use their pick on Penix Jr. instead of helping build their team in the present day.

One person who does not have a big issue with the pick is none other than former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, likening the pick to the Green Bay Packers' selection of Jordan Love a few years ago when they still had Aaron Rodgers in the fray.

“[Cousins] is going to play as good of football he can play for as long as his body allows him to play. And while he does that, you will not find a better human to help Michael Penix grow as a person, as a player. Every time the Packers did this, every time people said this was stupid… I think it's one of the best models in all of football,” said Dilfer, per Ryan Morik of Fox News (via Outkick).

“The Falcons are looking three, four, five, six, seven years down the line here, they're looking to become Super Bowl contenders for a decade, not just change their franchise now. And because of that, I think it was a really good pick,” added Dilfer.

The key difference

There are several key differences between what the Falcons did by selecting Penix Jr. and what the Packers did when they selected Love which was controversial in its own right at the time but has since obviously panned out. The first difference is that the Packers were already a Super Bowl contending team at the time they drafted Love with a pick (which was in the 20's and not nearly as high as the Falcons'), meaning they could afford to build for the future with the knowledge they had an elite team intact.

The Falcons, meanwhile, have several major holes on their roster, particularly on the defensive end of the field, that could have benefited from selecting a different player in the draft.

Furthermore, Jordan Love was 21 years old at the time that the Packers selected him and without a noteworthy injury history. Meanwhile, Penix Jr. will be 24 in a week and has a storied injury history, including ACL issues, which are always a major concern.

In any case, the Falcons did add some defensive depth as the draft proceeded, but if they struggle this year, fans won't be able to help but wonder just how much better they could have been if they had chosen differently.