Enthusiasm Builds for Particular QB to Vikings in Draft
Michael Penix Jr. will play in the National Championship next Monday night. His Washington Huskies will take on the Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines in Houston.
And before too long, Penix Jr. should play for the Minnesota Vikings, if some folks get their wish.
Enthusiasm Builds for Particular QB to Vikings in Draft
Penix Jr. enchanted the masses on Monday night, helping the Huskies defeat the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoff. Washington prevailed 37-31, as Penix Jr. delivered 461 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. His draft stock climbed, and many believe he’d fit beautifully inside the Vikings’ 2024 offense.
WGR550 host Nate Geary tweeted Tuesday, “All I want for 2024 is for Michael Penix to be playing for the Vikings next year. Could you imagine?”
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso also posted to X, “Let’s get Michael Penix Jr. on the Vikings.”
“Can we simply put Penix in an offense with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and TJ Hockenson? Thank you,” Underdog Sports’ Josh Norris piled on.
If the Vikings lose to the Detroit Lions this Sunday, the final regular season game of 2023, they’ll pick anywhere from 9th to 12th in the 2024 NFL Draft. And depending on how well Penix Jr. plays in the National Championship, that draft spot might be the special sauce for the young passer.
Penix Jr. is universally praised as a 1st-Round quarterback for April, with the only knock on his resume as injury history. He’s played two healthy seasons consecutively, but before that, the injury list was expansive. In 2018, he tore his ACL. A year later, his season was cut short by a sternoclavicular joint ailment. Then in 2020, he tore the other ACL. And in 2021, an AC joint injury ended his campaign.
Optimists will maintain that the last two seasons are a reasonable indicator that Penix Jr. is “good to go” in the NFL. All the injuries be damned. Some NFL team will convince itself that he is the way, and then we shall see if the injuries arrive akin to 2018 through 2021.
NBC Sports Chicago mock-drafted Penix Jr. to the Vikings last week, and Glynn Morgan explained, “The Kirk Cousins era in Minnesota may end after this season, and with the Vikings struggling to make the playoffs, there is a slim chance the organization will re-sign the unrestricted free agent. The Vikings receiving corps is youthful but accomplished and should be instrumental in breaking in any potential rookie signal-caller. Penix plays NFL franchise-worthy football and may be exactly what Minnesota needs to replace unrestricted veteran Kirk Cousins.”
Finally, here are more Penix-to-Vikings tweets:
The 6’3″ 215-pounder will turn 24 in May.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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