Inside The Huskies

Pat Mahomes Offers His Take on Michael Penix Jr.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback praises ex-Husky's arm strength.
Dan Raley|
Michael Penix Jr. provides an autograph during the Spring Game.
Michael Penix Jr. provides an autograph during the Spring Game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

While everyone awaits the total NFL quarterback unveiling of Michael Penix Jr., it's been time to tie up loose ends and brace for a whole new football world in Atlanta.

Former starting quarterback Kirk Cousins publicly has discussed his surprise over the Falcons' drafting of Penix last year and his wive shared the subsequent famly disappointment of Cousins having to hand over the job to the rookie left-hander at the end of last season.

Meantime, Penix made a trip to Seattle to attend the University of Washington Spring Game, signing autographs and posing for photos along the way.

He had a street named after him in his Florida hometown with signs unveiled in ceremonial fashion.

The growing anticipation surrounding Penix now stretches beyond Atlanta, Seattle and Dade City, Florida, with the king of NFL quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, even weighing in on the passing of the torch in the South's largest city.

"He's a great football player, man," Mahomes told USA Today's Cory Woodroof. "I watched him actually when he was at Indiana, and then going over to Washington and how much success he had, and then at the end of last season, I thought he did a great job."

There was more. An astute assessment. A heady forecast.

"And so, [he] can throw the football as good as anybody.," Mahomes said. "He's going to keep getting better and better in the NFL."

People have noted how Mahomes and Penix entered the NFL in a similar manner -- with big, strong arms.

Everyone now is coming to grips with the all-in move to Penix, who started the final three games last season, with the opening of training camp coming in a week.

The natural pivot is to expect the Falcons to become much more successful than the 8-9 team they were in 2024.

"Atlanta has a lot of great players, and so, I think, for them, I think it's just trying to keep building on the culture that Coach [Raheem] Morris established there this first season, and they'll have a great chance," Mahomes told USA Today.

"It's the NFL, man. You never know. It just kind of depends on the momentum, and who gets hot at the right time. And so, I think they have the talent to do it. It's about them going out there and doing it."

Michael Penix Jr., your move.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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