The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won 4 consecutive NFC South Division championships dating back to 2021. The year before that, they were Super Bowl champions.
Things have been going pretty good.
Much of that success, from the outside looking in, has come because the rest of the NFC South has been so unquestionably bad in that same time. The New Orleans Saints lost 13-time Pro Bowl and Super Bowl champion quarterback Drew Brees. The Atlanta Falcons lost NFL MVP quarterback Matt Ryan. The Carolina Panthers lost NFL MVP quarterback Cam Newton.
In that same time, the Buccaneers stumbled into one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks when they signed Baker Mayfield to a 1-year, $3 million quarterback to replace Tom Brady in 2023 and watched him make his first 2 Pro Bowls in each of of his first 2 years.
So, if the fortunes of any of the other 3 NFC South teams are going to turn around, we can safely assume it’s going to be because of the quarterback position. The Saints don’t really have one. The Panthers have 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, who has seemed mostly lost through his first 2 NFL seasons.
The Falcons, however, might just have themselves someone to build their franchise around in second-year quarterback and 2024 first round pick (No. 8 overall) Michael Penix Jr., who Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton called the NFC South’s “X Factor” headed into 2025.
“The Atlanta Falcons benched Kirk Cousins for the 2024 No. 8 overall pick in Week 16 last season, and he provided an immediate spark to the passing attack,” Moton wrote on July 5. ” … Going through a full offseason as the starter, the Washington product should be more efficient in the pocket. He will have a stronger rapport with his receivers and a better understanding of the offense. If he stays healthy, his progress in Year 2 could help Atlanta break its four-year pattern of seven-to-eight-win seasons to compete for an NFC South title.”
Penix Resurrected NFL Hopes After Transfer
Penix spent his first 4 seasons of college football at Indiana, where he was an All-Big Ten pick in 2020 but suffered 2 season ending ACL injuries in that same time. Once he transferred to Washington before the 2022 season, his career took off.
In 2 seasons at Washington, Penix went 25-3 as the starter and threw for over 4,600 yards and 30 touchdowns each season. In his senior year in 2023, Penix went 14-1 and led the Huskies to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, where they lost to Michigan and fellow first round pick quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
The Falcons shocked the NFL by drafting Penix at No. 8 overall in 2024 — just one month after they signed Cousins to a 4-year, $180 million free agent contract.
After Cousins was benched, Penix went 1-2 as the starter over the last 3 games.
“(Penix) is a pocket passer who was ineffective in 2023 when defenses were able to crank up the heat and make him move his feet,” NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation. “Playing in a shotgun-based spread attack might give him his best chance to succeed, but he needs to prove he can thrive outside of the Washington offense and stay free from injury.”
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