Michael Penix Jr was the Heisman runner-up in 2023. He led the Washington Huskies to the College Football Playoff national championship game and hopes to do the same in the NFL. Here is the range where Penix could land in the NFL draft.
Michael Penix Jr.’s Early Years
Penix Jr played his first four seasons at Indiana University. In each of those four seasons, Penix suffered season-ending injuries. He suffered injuries in both of his shoulders along with tearing both his ACLs. Throughout his first four seasons, Michael Penix played a total of 21 games.
After not being able to complete a full season throughout his first four years, it seemed like Penix Jr.’s colligate career was over before it even started. Luckily for Penix, he still had a couple more years of eligibility to redshirt along with the COVID year. After the 2021 season, Penix decided to get a fresh start and transferred to the University of Washington.
Washington
Michael Penix saw immediate success in his first year at Washington. He put up great stats but, most importantly, Penix played the entire season. It took five years but Penix was finally able to complete a full season of college football. In 2022 Michael Penix threw for over 4,600 yards along with 31 touchdowns with only eight interceptions. This led to lots of questions surrounding Penix heading into the 2023 season. Would he stay healthy and if he did could he lead Washington to success?
Michael Penix answered all those questions with his performance in 2023. He played the full season and led the Huskies to the college football playoff. Not only did Penix lead Washington to the College Football Playoff, he led them to the national championship. During the 2023 season, Michael Penix threw for 4,900 yards to go along with 36 touchdowns. After the 2023 season, Penix declared for the 2024 NFL draft.
NFL Draft
As the 2024 NFL draft process started it was very unclear where Penix would be drafted. Due to his injury history and age, it seems many teams will be avoiding the 23-year-old in the draft. If you ignore the injuries and look at his two years at Washington Penix would be a lock to be a top-five pick.
This creates a very wide range of where Penix will be selected in April. There are now three weeks until the draft and it seems Penix is regarded as a fringe first-round pick. There is still a world where Penix is a top-10 pick but it seems unlikely. One scenario that is becoming more likely is teams like the Broncos, or Seahawks could look to draft Penix in the middle of the first round. There is also a scenario where he falls into the second round.
Even though Michael Penix’s talent should make him a first-round pick there is no way to know until the day of the 2024 NFL draft. If you are looking for more about the NFL draft follow me on X @ChaseGrimm28 and if you are just looking for more football content check out mote from Gridiron Heroics.