Will Michael Penix & 2024 QB Draft Class Be Remembered as Disaster Class? | Ep 1246

Jason Whitlock (0:00)

Michael Penix Jr makes his 2026 debut tonight on Thursday Night Football. The Atlanta Falcons travel to Green Bay at 0-2 and look like the worst team in football. They just got drilled 34-3 by Carolina at home. The crowd booed new coach Kevin Sivansky in his own opener.

Penix sat the first two weeks. Now he gets the wreckage on a short week on the road in prime time.

Charles Baker (0:30)

Grab your popcorn.

Jason Whitlock (0:33)

Jayden Daniels went down again in Dallas. Last play of the first half. His foot got stepped on, pulling from under center. He fell backward, embraced with his left arm. The same left elbow injured last year dislocated again. Trainers popped it back in on the sideline.

Fox showed a 10-second clip of linemen walking past him to the tunnel. The internet screamed abandonment. His teammates rejected it. Brandon Coleman, Ben Sanat, and Terry McLaurin all defended him.

Caleb Williams produced the most embarrassing scene of week two. The number one overall pick from 2024 pulled his hamstring against Minnesota and got carted off the field. Carted off for a mild strain now listed as week to week. A mild hamstring ended his game. Williams arrived from USC as the anointed savior with painted nails, sideline tears, and endless commercials. Talent never answered the question. Toughness and availability answered every Sunday. Drake Maye opened this season cold in New England. The number three overall pick sits at one touchdown and four interceptions through two games. Eleven and a half points per game after finishing as an MVP runner up last year.

JJ. McCarthy has been a disaster in Minnesota. He missed his entire rookie year with a knee injury. He now sits again with a multi-week ankle sprain. The Vikings moved off Sam Dardold after 14 wins to hand the team to him.

Bo Nix opened in Denver. 61 college starts made him the mature pro-ready pick at number 12 Sean Payton took him to the playoffs as a rookie. This September brought a solid 288-yard game in week two, but only after a second-half rally to avoid an 0-2 start to the season. No collapse, no takeover. Denver needs control, not comebacks. Processing fast and throwing on time was his edge. That edge has to show for 17 games.

None of this, the 2024 draft class. None of this should be a surprise.

Caleb Williams cried into his mother's arms after a USC loss. Penix missed time in four of his six college seasons with knee and shoulder injuries. JJ. McCarthy managed games at Michigan behind a run heavy offense and a stifling defense. Jayden Daniels arrived with his mother and his certified agent and alpha mom, beta son set up first exposed at LSU. Bo Nix entered as the veteran with 61 starts, steady but dependent on Denver's defense to hide his limits. Maye entered as the potential elite prospect with eye-popping numbers, still unproven in the postseason play and in marquee games like Seattle. Both arrived with labels. Year 3 tests whether veteran steadiness and raw potential become franchise leadership. The 1983 draft remains the greatest quarterback draft of all time. John Elway went number one to Baltimore before being traded to Denver. Todd Blackledge went number seven to Kansas City. He failed. Jim Kelly went number 14 to Buffalo and is in the Hall of Fame. Tony Eason went to number 15 to New England. Ken O'Brien went 24 to the Jets. And Dan Marino failed to number 27 to Miami. And some people think he's the greatest quarterback of all time. So that's three Hall of Famers, Elway, Kelly and Marino, nine Super Bowl trips between them. Decades of stability decided in year two and three.

The 2024 class tried to top it. Six quarterbacks in the first 12 picks never happened before. Caleb Williams number one, Jayden Daniels number two, Drake Maye number three, Michael Penix at eight, JJ. McCarthy at 10 and Bo Nix at 12 to Denver. Six arms, six franchises, six bets on leadership. Rookie year is marketing. Year three is the mirror. The mirror is arriving in September. Quarterback is 53 men trusting one man in a collapsing huddle. Daniels must prove he can stay on the field for 17 games. Williams must prove toughness matters more than branding. Maye must protect the football and lift a rebuilding roster without excuses. Leadership is not a commercial. It is ownership on every snap. Penix must prove it tonight at Lambeau under the lights. McCarthy must get healthy and justify Minnesota moving off a 14 win quarterback to bet on him. Nix must turn rallies into control and run an offense on schedule. The 1983 class gave us the greats because pressure forged them into men. Will 2024 be the new 1983 or the antithesis of that class that proved hype cannot manufacture men?