Is QB Michael Penix Jr. a PERFECT FIT for Patriots?
After an impressive performance in the Sugar Bowl, Washington QB Michael Penix has garnered a lot of attention. So much so, that he is now projected by some to be a top 5 pick in the draft. Could he be an option at quarterback for the Patriots? Alex Barth and Brian Hines break down the likelihood, Penix's upsides, and some of his red flags.
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Transcript
00:00 We'll start with panics cuz he was just throwing javelins all over the field
00:04 Just we've talked about the arm talent a lot and he was just slain in that last night the thing to me. That was
00:12 Excuse me
00:13 that was most impressive was his movement in the pocket because
00:17 We haven't like he was looking like he did kind of Indiana days
00:20 We haven't seen that a lot this year creating kind of out of structure
00:24 But he was moving around back there a lot
00:25 It was under a lot of pressure from that Texas defensive front and he handled it
00:30 Absolutely perfectly and he was just ridiculous last night and and not just the movement in the pocket
00:36 But as a runner just as a runner good. I've tried to tell people who tell me he's immobile
00:41 It's not that he can't run. He doesn't do it
00:44 He's a past first quarterback and he's had some knee injuries and I think he's a little hesitant
00:48 But what a perfect time I said what he needs to he can do it
00:51 What a perfect time to break it out in a playoff game the new little wrinkle and he was effective doing it and then yeah
00:57 What he did as a passer. I mean that is one of the best
00:59 Quarterback games I have seen in my six years really, you know watching these guys is draft prospects
01:07 I mean, he's putting the ball. They don't have the option to not catch it
01:11 He's just putting the ball on guys hands before they can even get him up and you know
01:17 The throw to Odun's a up to seem that was it the McMillan the one where he splits the safeties
01:23 Just zips it between them the great throw to Polk to open the game
01:26 By the way, Jalen Polk had himself a hell of a night
01:28 Yeah, that guy did himself a lot of favors. I think when it comes to the draft
01:31 You know just again just dots. I
01:34 Still believe this Michael Penix has the best pure arm talent in this draft. There is not a better
01:42 Thrower of the football in this draft than Michael Penix and you know what probably the last two drafts
01:48 I think he's a better throw of the football than anybody who went last year and
01:51 Certainly a better throw of the football than anybody who went in that, you know, Kenny picket dress not saying much but still
01:58 now
02:00 That's not say he should go 1-1. I think him being 24 is a legitimate not red flag, but you're taught
02:06 Forget like growth when you sign him to a second contract. He's already gonna be 30
02:12 Which is you know for your drafting for the long term and versus a guy like a like a Drake May
02:18 He was gonna be 21 and Caleb Williams gonna be 20. That's a different conversation. I get that I understand that that's gonna knock him down
02:24 And the the injury history is real the injury history is real and you have to consider
02:28 He's a four season ending injuries before the last two years
02:30 The guy might have some durability problems
02:33 And if you're a bad team drafting that high you probably don't have a great line
02:36 And this is a guy you need to take care of
02:38 That all being said and we talked about this last week Brian
02:42 His whole thing in this playoffs and we'll see what he does
02:46 Texas defense pretty good top 20 defense in the nation, Michigan's number one. So I think he does against Michigan but
02:53 the the whole thing for me with him is kind of
02:58 can he prove that all those red flags are worth taking the chance on because he's just so good you can't pass and
03:06 That game last night is kind of the point is kind of exactly that where you're looking at that
03:12 and yeah, I know he has the knee injuries, but just
03:15 Again, the thing that always comes back to me. The phrase is putting it you hear you hear
03:20 You know talk about quarterbacks putting it on a guy
03:23 Right, which is you know when the quarterback throws the ball?
03:26 How much does the receiver have to adjust how much of the receiver have to go outside his catch radius or things going outside?
03:32 His catch radius, you know, how much effort does he have to make to get to where the ball is?
03:36 Michael panic it's not like he's putting the ball in the area and these guys are making these great catches
03:41 It's right in the it looks like a glitch. It's right in the breadbasket every time there's times
03:46 I thought the ball fell incomplete
03:48 Because I didn't see the wide receiver even make a motion to go out and catch the ball because the balls where his hands already
03:53 Work, it's like he's like throwing it to nets or in trash buckets. It's just right
03:57 So I
04:00 still
04:02 Struggle to put a hit him ahead of Caleb Williams. I
04:05 He's in that tier with Drake May and Jane Daniels I
04:11 I would worry with the Patriots at the offensive line like your next pick has to be a tackle and you gotta go get a
04:18 Tackling freedom so you can't have this guy taking hits, but there's a I
04:22 Think the question was we know there's a gap from one to two from Caleb Williams to either
04:28 Whoever, you know you wanted whether it's Drake mayor Jaden Daniels. We know there's a gap from one or two
04:34 I think the gap from one to two is bigger than two to three
04:38 But it's really the big this might be a four QB draft
04:41 I was right in the face all week last week when everybody was upset about Patriots winning saying he was a
04:46 Three-quarterback draft not to it might be for it might be for you might have if Michael panics
04:54 Shows up against Michigan the way he showed up against Texas and then clears all the medical testing at the combine
05:00 I don't see how he gets out of the top 15 because the talent is just too
05:05 It's it's too immense. It's it's it's he is what?
05:10 Every team wants in a passer and I just don't think you're gonna get that many teams passing on him that many times
05:18 Yep, he's definitely assuming the medicals which is the big thing check right and that's the caveat on all this like yeah
05:24 Cuz I saw some people say oh, well, you know if something happens where he falls to the second
05:28 Do you maybe take him then I think me something happens?
05:31 You're right feel how you want to feel I'm all or nothing on Michael Pennix if he clears the medicals
05:37 He's a first-round pick. There's no question about it. If he doesn't clear the medicals. I don't really want him
05:42 I don't want a guy with with too bad knee and when I say I don't really want him if he falls like the sixth
05:47 Round sure you do the RG three Kirk cousins thing, but I'm not touching him in the top 150 if he has paper machetes
05:54 I that I'm that way about any prospect. Yeah, but yeah, it's not like oh, well, you know, there's a little red flag in the medical
06:01 So you take him in the second round? No. No, it's he if you want him you take him
06:05 It's that simple if he's worth taking he's gonna go
06:08 That's just the reality of it and it's not exactly apples to apples, but you think all right, you know
06:14 If there's a flag on the knee injury, how bad can it be?
06:17 Certainly looks like the Patriots may have ignored a red flag on judy smith-schuster
06:21 You've seen how that's kind of turned out. So if he clears great if not you you find somebody else
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06:44 He's definitely working his way into the first round with all that
06:50 Yeah
06:50 I
06:51 mean
06:51 I saw people last night saying he should be the first quarterback
06:54 Taken off the board and we need to like not be a prisoner of the moment that much a little bit
06:59 But I think on pure talent, there's an argument for it
07:02 Okay, but that's just not how the draft works, right?
07:06 Like as if you watch that game last night, and you know nothing else about him
07:11 Yes, that is QB one arm talent
07:14 but
07:15 You the agent injuries are they're a part of it. That's just how this thing works
07:19 They are a part of it
07:21 And when you have a guy in Caleb Williams who's 20 years old and is making some of the plays he is
07:26 Yeah, he's gonna go in terms of the what you have to think of the traffic. It's like a long-term investment, right?
07:33 You're talking about another three or four years
07:35 You're talking about a whole other
07:36 Contract is the difference between Caleb Williams with his age and Michael Pennix with his age, especially with his injury history
07:42 That's that's the difference to me and you mentioned he'll need an offensive line because of the injuries
07:47 Yeah, does the hole he's throwing to three NFL caliber wide receivers
07:53 Where are you at all? Because we went through all this with Matt
07:55 Yeah
07:56 obviously the last cycle that that Alabama offense was stacked and you know pennex is thrown to a
08:02 Guy who might be a top 10 pick a guy who maybe Polk gets into the first round now and jail
08:07 McMillan might not yeah are behind him. So is that something you know?
08:12 He's got a really good setup there in Washington from the offensive line to the receivers
08:15 Does that worry you moving forward to I mean look I understand why people are worried about that with Matt Jones
08:22 And I'm not saying it's not a factor, but if that's
08:25 Disqualified I would say show me a quarterback in this draft that doesn't have an all-star cast, you know
08:31 Kayla Williams is a it's just right Drake Mays the only one so and if that's your take if you say I want a guy
08:37 Who would earn it? I want a guy who had to earn it. I want a guy that played with crap
08:40 I want you know 2010 Cam Newton at Auburn where none of the other 10 offensive starters even played in the NFL and
08:46 UNC's better than that Tez Walker's legit and Amari and Hampton
08:50 He'll be in the draft next year where he's gonna be one of the top running backs in the draft
08:54 Drake Mays your guy then because
08:58 Caleb Williams is throwing a three top 100 picks just two of them are underclassmen so they won't be in the draft this year
09:03 That's why we're not talking about his supporting class as much, you know Quinn yours
09:07 I actually think Texas is skill position players are better than Washington's a doomsday is the best of all of them
09:11 But Xavier worthy kind of got shut down last night, but you saw what a D Mitchell can do
09:15 I thought you Tavian Sanders had a very good game. We know who
09:19 Michael Pennix is throwing to Bo Nix is throwing a two top 100 picks. You want to throw JJ McCarthy in there?
09:26 We just talked about Roman Wilson and really it's the running game that's carrying that team and he's got two of you know
09:32 Probably the five first running backs to go off the board this year and Blake Corman Donovan Edwards behind him
09:37 I don't know who else am I missing like it's every
09:40 quarterback
09:42 You know Cameron Ward who kind of surprise came out
09:44 Maybe maybe that's the guy you want but he's kind of a risk because he's pretty inexperienced
09:49 So you can you can worry about that. That's fine. I
09:53 Just think that that's in the age of NIL in the transfer portal
09:57 Every top quarterback is gonna be playing right is gonna be playing with stars because the receivers are gonna gravitate to these guys
10:04 Because they want to look better because they want to get drafted higher and it's not easy
10:09 But what I would urge people to do if you're watching and this is why it doesn't worry me so much with pennex
10:15 Watch what the quarterback does independent of what's happening around him, right? Because he may have a great offensive line
10:23 It's not gonna be perfect. How does he throw when he does get pressure? Even if it's not that often and
10:27 Let's say he has a 300 yard game, right? How much of that was after the catch?
10:31 That's why like I go to Bo Nix his average depth of target is six yards
10:35 That's the lowest in the country among qualified quarterbacks
10:37 So he had some massive numbers, but how much that is him versus the guys around him, right?
10:43 When he's throwing the ball down the field is it you know
10:46 Is he putting it on the receivers or these receivers just making unbelievable plays and that's why with pennex
10:52 We just talked about it
10:53 He's making plays against pressure last night and it it was the best he has
10:57 Struggled against pressure a little bit this year, but to do that against that defense
11:01 I think deserves some credit and then again
11:03 It's not like Roma doing say Jalen McMillan Jalen Polk around here making SportsCenter top 10 catches the whole game
11:11 Every time the ball is a bread basket right on them. So
11:15 that you know, maybe the receivers suck but if Michael Pennix gets New England in Taekwon Thornton's dropping three passes a game and
11:23 You know Devante Parker's not jumping for the ball and all that and he's dropping that's not on Michael Pennix
11:29 It's gonna hurt his staff. It's not on Michael Pennix
11:32 So I think you really have to look and and you could say the same for all the quarterbacks
11:36 We're talking about pennex here
11:37 but I think you look at Caleb Williams and there's certainly a
11:40 Good amount on his tape where he's making the play and he's putting it on the wide receiver and he's you know
11:46 Handling this and that he didn't have a good offensive line
11:48 So you get a good idea what he looks like under pressure
11:50 You have to have to have to look at what the quarterback is doing independent of what's around him forget who the receiver is
11:57 Was the ball on target? Yes or no and with pennex?
12:00 Yes, it's usually on target even the one the one that was tipped and at first I thought the corner tipped it
12:06 No, he got that by the corner and then I think that was McMillan right McMillan tips it up to himself
12:12 So I you look at what the quarterbacks doing independently
12:16 You
12:18 You
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