With the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Michael Penix Jr. The Heisman Trophy runner-up led Washington to a 14-1 season and a runner-up finish in the CFP National Championship game.
Now, there’s plenty to be excited about surrounding the lefty gunslinger and his future in the NFL. Let’s take a look at Penix’s contract, 2025 salary, and net worth.
Michael Penix Jr.’s 2025 Contract
Penix and the Falcons agreed on a four-year, $22.88 million deal. This included a signing bonus of just under $13.5 million for the southpaw.
In 2025, Penix’s cap number with Atlanta is $5,209,419.
By the end of this rookie deal, he’ll have pocketed the full $22.9 million as it’s fully guaranteed, while also giving him the possibility of being extended for a fifth season via the fifth-year team option.
Penix’s Net Worth
Penix’s estimated net worth is $1.2 million. In addition to his NFL contract, his extensive NIL deals allowed him to become a millionaire before he became a pro.
Within that NIL portfolio, Penix includes some significant endorsements, including Simply Seattle, Husky Throwbacks, and Montlake Futures. His partnership with Montlake Futures is particularly intriguing, as it was a multi-year deal.
Penix also stepped out into the merchandise sector, as he has his own branded T-shirt that Simply Seattle is offering for $24.99 — Penix receives half of the sales. He also added Adidas to his NIL portfolio and then took it a step further once he got drafted, securing an endorsement deal with Adidas.
“Through every up and down, the Three Stripes have remained consistent,” he said. “I remember lacing them up for the unsigned Preps 7-on-7 team and going around the country earning offers in the Three Stripes.”
He went on to say Adidas has been by his side for his entire football journey “and it’s only right that [the two] continue it together.”
Once Penix sees the field for the Falcons, he should have no problem continuing to rack up deals and endorsements.
Falcons Benched Kirk Cousins for Penix
Last season, many Falcons fans wanted head coach Raheem Morris to bench Kirk Cousins for Penix.
Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons in March 2024, but he had a disappointing season. In 14 games, he threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions before getting benched.
In PFSN’s QB+ metric, Cousins finished the season as the 24th-ranked quarterback.
PFSN’s QB+ metric is a formula that we created to assign a letter grade to every quarterback’s performance. We factor in a number of stats, including success rates when pressured, third-down conversion rate, and pocket production. The added wrinkle in this PFN Insight is quantifying “clutch.” Defining “clutch” performance is an imperfect science, but we use timeliness-based stats to account for score and situation.
Given what he was paid and that Atlanta entered this season with Super Bowl aspirations, he was a colossal disappointment. In his rookie season, Penix started three games for the Falcons and threw for 775 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions, completing 58.1% of his throws.
He is named as the team’s starter for the 2025 NFL season, and the Falcons fans are quite optimistic about the quarterback’s future.
Falcons Players’ Fantasy Outlook for Week 7
Here’s what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote on the notable Falcons players’ fantasy outlooks for the Week 7 matchup against the 49ers:
Michael Penix Jr.
This is part of the developmental process. Michael Penix looks a lot like Cam Ward when I turn on the TV, in that there are some plays made at a high level and others missed without much reason.
I thought he showed well for himself in the upset of the Bills last week, but it didn’t really pay off in fantasy points (250 pass yards, one TD, 6 rushing yards).
He was what the Falcons needed, and he continues to load up his talented teammates with as much usage as they can handle. That’s the path to success for Atlanta, but not us.
Penix has just one game with multiple touchdown passes this season and has a total of 16 rushing yards over his past four. Steps are being taken, and that’s good for the long-term fantasy picture.
Bijan Robinson
There are three instances this season in which a player has 140+ rushing yards and 5+ targets: Bijan Robinson is responsible for two of them.
The first was the Week 2 beatdown of the Vikings, and the second was on Monday night against the Bills, a sparkling performance highlighted by an 81-yard touchdown run. Robinson has a 25-yard touch and five targets in every game this season, a role/skill set combination that is as close to bulletproof as it gets.
He’s a highlight waiting to happen: this game is appointment viewing on Sunday night, as we will have one of the best running backs in recent memory on the field essentially at all times.
Drake London
Through five games, Drake London has more catches (34) than any of his teammates have targets, and Darnell Mooney, who has missed 40% of Atlanta’s games this season, remains second on the target leaderboard when it comes to Falcon WRs.
Penix is far from a polished prospect. Still, he seems keenly aware that getting the ball to his high-pedigree teammates is a good way to make a living, and he’s executing (London, Robinson, and Kyle Pitts have accounted for 69.6% of Atlanta targets).
London has earned 10+ targets three times this season, and his monster game on Monday night (10-158-1) grows if a touchdown at the end of the first half doesn’t come off the board.
The 49ers’ defense is playing well above expectations this season, but they’ve allowed a receiver to clear 15 PPR points in four of six games, and even if Mooney were to return to action, there’s not much debating as to who the most likely player on this team is to check that box.
London is a top 10 play for me this week and not far off of that for the second half of the season as a whole.
Kyle Pitts
With under 40 receiving yards in three of his past four games, at this point, I’d love to tell you that Kyle Pitts is a TD-reliant tight end, but that’s like saying I’m a pickup basketball player who relies on his height.
I’m 5’10”. On a good day.
Pitts has played 66 games across his five seasons, earning 361 targets in the process and scoring just 11 times. If you’re waiting on a single target to get you 7-9 points, more often than not, you’re going to be waiting for all four quarters in that given week.
This, to me at least, looks different than Pitts’ tease runs of years past. His PPR points per target are trending toward a career high, and the efficiency is in a good spot to sustain, given his target diet.
- 2021: 11.2 aDOT
- 2022: 13.7 aDOT
- 2023: 12.0 aDOT
- 2024: 8.7 aDOT
- 2025: 4.9 aDOT
There’s a world in which he’s racking up 5+ catches a week, and that fuels double-digit PPR production every week.
I’m just not sure we are living in that world.
