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Panned as a surprise outside the organization,
even starting quarterback Kirk Cousins -- who signed a $100
million contract weeks earlier -- was shocked by the pick.
But Blank said he's thankful the Falcons don't "always listen to
the league" or media.
"And thank heavens we don't always do what everybody else thinks
we should be doing. We're actually very independent thinkers,"
he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We've been through a situation, post-Matt Ryan, when we're
seeing that movie when we didn't have a franchise quarterback,"
Blank continued. "We didn't want to repeat that again. I mean, I
certainly didn't. I'm super sensitive to all forms of succession
planning. After 60-odd years of business, in any business,
that's critical. At the key position, the quarterback position
in the NFL, that's very important. So, just listening to our
coaching staff and our personnel department, they really made
the decision. Michael was going to be available at No. 8. They
saw an extraordinary talent."
Cousins is closer to 40 than 30 and coming back from a torn
Achilles that ended his 2023 season in October. He was informed,
Blank said, the Falcons were "probably" going to draft a
quarterback. Like others Blank insisted the Falcons don't listen
to, it's reasonable to presume Cousins wasn't expecting that
quarterback to be picked in the first round.
Cousins was cleared medically for full training camp activity
but is not likely to play in the preseason.
Blank said the move was about planning for the future, knowing
"age does kind of creep up."
"Kirk Cousins is our franchise quarterback, is our starting
quarterback and he seems to be doing great from a medical
standpoint," Blank said. "His attitude, his leadership,
culturally, personally, with our players, with the coaching
staff, has been nothing short of outstanding. So, we couldn't be
happier with that situation."
--Field Level Media [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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