NFL Rumors: Scouts think Michael Penix Jr. could shockingly go undrafted

As a fan of any team in the NFL, at some point, you've seen your favorite team draft a player that made no sense at all to you, any other fans of the team, or the pundits broadcasting from the draft. Blank stares and slack jaws are usually followed by a shot of a guy in the crowd crying and/or asking "Who?!"

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic recently appeared on the Rich Eisen show and dropped what some might consider a bombshell. After explaining that Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is a polarizing prospect that scouts are having difficulty grading, he said, "Some people think that he is a top, you know, could be a first-round quarterback. Some people think he may not get drafted."

One has to hope that he means there are scouts who have a UDFA draft grade on Penix, and not that there are employees of NFL teams in scouting departments who believe that Penix will be passed over 256 times in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Why is Michael Penix Jr. perceived as an NFL Draft risk?

There are concerns regarding his injury history and there's no doubt that there are scouts who would rather not take a chance on a player who has had two season-ending ACL injuries.

The website NFLMockDraftDatabase.com tracks mock drafts from magazines, newspapers, and websites all over the country. The lowest anyone has Michael Penix being drafted is 32nd. Matt Rooney of Bleacher Nation does a weekly mock draft, and for the past few, he has had Penix being taken with the last pick of the first round.

NFL.com has not assigned him a draft grade yet but has given him a comp of CJ Stroud, the second overall pick in the 2023 draft. In Mel Kiper's first mock draft of the season, he has Penix going a couple of picks into the second round at No. 34 but has said that Penix could also go mid-first-round as well.

If a team's scouting department thinks Penix is too big of a risk to gamble on, then good for them. To each their own. If a team's scouting department believes that Penix will not have his name called at all through seven rounds, the entire staff needs to be fired and replaced. Barring another injury before Apr. 25, there is a good chance that Penix will be taken in Round 1, and there is a 100 percent chance that somebody will grab him at some point during the draft.