NFL QB Rankings: Michael Penix Jr. is READY for year 2, is Jayden Daniels the best QB in the NFL? 👀

Former NFL Player Bryant McFadden joins CBS Sports HQ to discuss Michael Penix Jr. and Jayden Daniels expectations heading into their 2nd year in the NFL.

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We all know the NFC South is an experience, right? It’s been the Bucks as of late. As Jack, our producer, likes to remind us all the time. They’ve won it four straight seasons. The odds makers have their total set at 9 and a half wins there at plus 110. Meanwhile, the Falcons right behind them at 7 and a half. Of course, a year ago, Atlanta missed the playoffs with an 8-9 record, but they usher in a new era in 2025 with their secondyear quarterback Michael Penn Jr. taking over for Kurt Cousins. [Music] What’s up? How you doing, man? I’m doing all right. I can’t complain. On a little bus right now. Life is good. It look like you golfing. That’s correct. You can play some golf. Oh, that’s what’s up. That’s like 20 years from now for you, Mike. All right. 20 years from now. You can tell you’re trying to get into golf, though. I’m trying to get better. I just started. Taking some lessons. I I don’t I didn’t get no lessons yet. My My one piece of advice is start with some lessons, man. Start with some lessons. Get the Get the fundamentals. Let’s get the the basics down and you’ll be good after that. Okay, I’m going to do that. Would you guys grab us some food? Yeah. Take a wild guess where we’re eating breakfast at. We’re in Atlanta, of course, so take a wild guess. It looks like a fine establishment I know very well. It looks like a Waffle House right here, fellas. My guy, you better believe it. I like it. I like it. Mike, I’m going to see you for dinner next week or two, right? Yes, sir. Can I really quickly just point out the last time that I went to a Waffle House, it it blew up. Okay, sorry. Continue the segment. Let’s get back to that. I am curious. Maybe that’ll be trending next on this show. Um, we’ll hear about Jenny Dell’s Waffle House experience. But first, let’s welcome in the twotime Super Bowl champion, Bryant Bac McFaten, who had his own experience at Waffle House with the QB1 out in Atlanta in Michael Penn Jr. Uh, BMAC, before we get into the meat of what you talked about there with Michael Pinnock Jr., I got to know who picked Waffle House. Was it you? Was it Michael? Was it just like a collective decision that that’s where you guys wanted to meet? Of course, it was me. I knew it. I love Waffle House. My goodness, I like Waffle. Allstar. Oh, very, very efficient, cost efficient eating. And it feels and it tastes so good to you. So, that was easy for me being in Atlanta. Waffle houses, they’re like on every street corner to say the least. every interstate exit. It was easy for me. Waffle House was my decision. Listen, we all know that you will not pass up a meal, especially if it means that you get to break bread with a fellow NFL player, and that’s what you did there with Michael Penn Jr. You can catch that full interview up on our YouTube channel right now. But BMAC, you had that conversation where you sat down with Michael Penn Jr. You talked about a lot there. And so, let’s talk about the expectations with him, right? I think a lot of people were scratching their heads when Atlanta took him at number eight a year ago. And yet here he is getting ready to embark on his first season as the starter here. What’d you get out of that conversation with Penn? Well, first and foremost, Haley, Michael Penn is a good dude. He’s a very, very good, humble dude. Uh, you really enjoy being in his presence and you can notice that throughout that entire interview with us, you know, me just hanging out with him. He’s a easy, humble dude. That’s number one. So, he’s easy to root for and cheer for. Secondly, the skill set, the confidence is there. He has a quiet confidence about himself that he believes he is the guy. He believes he can go out and make the plays that are necessary necessary, need to be made for them to be successful and put points on the scoreboard. And the expectations this season, even with Michael Penn, you know, basically coming into his full year as a starting quarterback, because remember, he didn’t start into the latter moments of last season last season. It’s it’s it’s playoffs. It’s a playoff push. You can look at the draft and see how aggressive they were in the draft and trying to improve their defense. That was a telling sign that this is a playoff push. This has to be a playoff push for the Atlanta Falcons. And all of that starts and stops with their quarterback in Michael Penn Jr. Well, and it’s interesting, too. I know the sample size was very small from a year ago, but when he did pick up the starting role there, he did really well. So, we do have a little bit of a blueprint to see what he could be in 2025. Uh, I also know in that interview that Pennix talked about his relationship with Jaden Daniels, who is also going into his sophomore season. And look, we all watch the record setting rookie year. Uh, it led to Daniels being ranked number one in our CBS Sports postdraft quarterback power rankings. BMAC, you know, we love power rankings here at CBS Sports HQ, but I mean, this is a guy that beat out Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, just to name a few. Jaylen Herz on there as well. Um, if you were looking to start a franchise right now, knowing everything you know about the current quarterbacks, the quarterback class that is entering into the season, is Jaden Daniels the guy you would build your franchise around? Not so fast. I’m not quite ready to say that. Unbelievable year a year ago, right? We know that he really surprised and exceeded the expectations he not quite ready to put that t that title on Jaden Daniels as he gets ready for his second year. One thing we know about the the National Football League is a very very competitive league and young players sometimes, especially early on in their career, it’s hard to hit that stride of consistency of playing at an high level for a full season full season. And we saw that with CJ Stra. Remember CJ Stra’s rookie year, individually speaking, outstanding. That led to team success which led to a playoff push. They got to the playoffs in this second campaign, but as an individual, his numbers were not the same as they were during his rookie year. So, let’s see Jayen Daniels continue to stack great season after great seasons. But when you look at some of the other guys who we’ve seen and we know they are him at that quarterback position, it’s hard for me to overlook a guy like Lamar Jackson. Even though Lamar Jackson did not win the MVP a year ago, Lamar Jackson threw for over 4,100 yards. 41 touchdowns. He had a total of 5,000 yards from scrimmage. When you look at the 915 that he ran for and a total of 45 touchdowns, look at look at Josh Allen, the man who actually won the MVP. He had 40 total touchdowns in a season in which many people felt like he would show a decline because of the lack of name, notable names at the wide receiver positions. Those two players, in my opinion, they’re the best dual quarterbacks in the National Football League. and they’re playing at a peak level regardless of what is surrounding them. Those two players, especially if you look at their 20h 2024 campaign, night and day, regardless what happened in the draft, regardless what happens in free agency, I cannot pick a secondyear quarterback over those two quarterbacks as I mentioned because their overall body of work has been more impressive and more consistent. And not to mention what we saw in last year’s campaign was far 10 times better than what Jayen Daniels did. And that says a lot because Jay and Daniels was spectacular in 2024. He was. But you’re going experience over youth. It makes sense. I also learned in that interview, BMAC, that you are a ketchup lover. So, I know the next time you have a birthday or any type of party, I am getting you ketchup as a gift. You can check out that full interview with BMAC on our uh YouTube page right now. It’s really great. Don’t do not change the subject, Jenny. I need to hear this Waffle House story when we go into break here. But before we get there, take a look at the odds to win the Super Bowl. You will not see Michael Penn and the Falcons on this list. At least not right now to start. This is how it looks uh here in May. We have the Commanders highlighted there though at what is that plus 2,000. So uh not that far off question mark. I’m just kidding. It’s quite far off there. The Eagles the favorites to win again. All right. Jimmy Butler and Anthony Edwards. They have quite a complicated history. The Warriors Timberwolves expecting more fireworks tonight. The latest in the association that’s coming after the break.