David Pollack on the Falcons’ Penix Pick and The Bulldogs as a Perennial Playoff Team

Atlanta Falcons first round draft choice quarterback Michael Penix Jr., holds a Falcons jersey during a news conference Friday, April 26, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

ATLANTA – David Pollack gives his take on the Falcons drafting Michael Penix and questions the strategy…NOT the player. He also has a take on the Bulldogs that could make UGA fans happy for years to come.

SHOCKED AT PENIX DRAFT: 
I think the same thoughts everybody else had: “Shocked.” You know, you look at the division last year… like could have won the division with really bad quarterback play. You go spend a lot of money on Kirk Cousins and a guaranteed contract. And so you think you’ve got that solidified, now every defensive player on the board, you know Dallas Turner, right there sitting there, you think it looks good like help our pass rush immediately you think about the past too like all the offensive investments in the first round picks and surely we’re not gonna go first round again and…and then and then we go quarterback.  
 
FALCONS KILLED BEST CHANCE TO WIN NOW: 
I think you do get a little bit frustrated just just cause you want investment. You wanna continue to grow, you wanna give yourself the best chance to win. The Falcons by taking Penix, they didn’t give themselves the best chance to win, you know? I just, I’m not. I’m I, I I would like to win the division and…and I think I you always say you build the team to win the division and I feel like you could have done something a little bit different but just for right now I think you probably think, “Dang like we’re not giving myself right now the best chance to win.” 
 
CARSON BECK WILL BE ONE OFTHE TOP QBs AVAILABLE NEXT YEAR: 
I mean this dude…listen this is the number one or the number two pick in the draft next year. You can go ahead and write that down. like it’s Quinn Ewers or him. And big, strong…  He’s gotten even bigger. I saw himwith a scrimmage a couple weeks ago looks good, man. He can throw it like his deep ball is the thing that he’s had to work on. Like, that’s the. You know, just putting touch on the football deep down the field, taking something off it. But those crossers and the way he throws with great anticipation and he spins it and I think this offense will be built around him for sure.  
 
ADMITS TO IMPROPER BENEFITS BEFORE NIL? 
Here’s the thing, man. Name, image and likeness. OK, Joe, I’m gonna put you in this thing can jump in this. NIL to me for all y’all out there it stands for “Now It’s Legal.”  There was plenty of people that got plenty of goodies. Now listen now…listen now, listen. Tech might not have paid as well, but there is plenty of people that were getting paid. They got extra benefit. Consider my hand raised. OK, so you you definitely had that going on, you know, back in the day still.  
 
NIL IS FRUSTRATING: 
What’s frustrating is NIL was instituted for name, image and likeness… was for you to capitalize on what you’ve done and when you’ve earned it. I don’t like paying kids to come to school. That’s when NIL has become and it’s not a surprise. Listen, the NCAA sucks. And they’ve made now the transfer portal awful. These coaches, they gotta recruit their roster during the season. They gotta recruit their roster right when the season ends. Like I… I just think that it’s hard to build a team. It’s really hard to do it and now it’s becoming way more difficult with the individualization of sport. 

BULLDOGS A PERENNIAL EXPANDED PLAYOFF TEAM:  
This is a team now that you can go ahead and say they’re gonna be in the College Football Playoff every year. I think that they’ve built theirselves now to a point with the way they recruit the way Kirby Smart leads. He’s just different man.  


 KEEPING THE STAFF TOGETHER: 
This staff, when you go down the list of all the guys like B-Mac and you got heart, heart. You got five staff members that played at Georgia. Bobo, Muschamp…like you can go down the list of so many people that so it means it’s…It means even more. And you know what else? It means? A lot of those guys ain’t going nowhere like they know what it means to be where they’re at and they’re like, I’m not leaving this place like this is too good and this is my alma mater, so I definitely think that helps too.  
 
PENIX HAS TALENT: 
Penix has got talent. Like in person watching him. I’m not gonna go probably past 10 of being impressed with a guy and the ball coming off of his hand… like it is gorgeous. He can spin it and I think there’s something about a lefty, but the thing he can get it to your playmakers, he can distribute. He can obviously learn a lot from Cousins. 

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