Michael Penix Jr.

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Michael Penix Jr.	Quarterback	Washington	3-Star Recruit (85)	RS Senior	Fifth Year Starter
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3	Positional Rank	Grade	Height	Weight	2023 PFF Grade	2022 PFF Grade
4	6	Late 1st	6'2	216	91.9	87.9
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6	Year	Attempts	Completions	Passing Yards	Passing Touchdowns	Interceptions
7	2023	556	364	4906	36	11
8	2022	558	362	4641	31	8
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10	Year	Rushing Attempts	Rushing Yards	Rushing Touchdowns	Completion Percentage	Adjusted Completion %
11	2023	33	80	3	65.47%	74.5%
12	2022	25	113	4	64.87%	74.1%
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14	Year	Passer Rating	Passing Yards / Attempt	Rushing Yards / Attempt	PFF Grade from Clean Pocket	PFF Grade Under Pressure
15	2023	106.7	8.82	2.42	92.9	64.7
16	2022	103.3	8.32	4.52	91.3	61.8
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18	Year	Big Time Throw %	Turnover Worthy Play %	Pressure to Sack %	Time to Throw	Average Depth of Target
19	2023	7.3%	2.0%	7.6%	2.68	10.7
20	2022	4.6%	1.3%	3.2%	2.58	10.1
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22	Overview
23	Strengths	Notes
24	Tight Window Throws from a Clean Pocket	His deep ball velocity and accuracy is superb. He can fit the ball exactly where he needs to and throw with anticipation downfield, even when his mechanics are off. This ability lessens greatly under pressure, but his arm talent is undeniable.
25	Pocket Awareness	His maneuverability and awareness in the pocket, along with his low pressure to sack conversion ratio, should translate well to the next level.
26	Arm Strength	Penix has NFL arm strength and can make tight window throws downfield with tremendous velocity.
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28	Weaknesses	Notes
29	Throwing on the Move	His mechanics break down significantly on the move, which affects his accuracy. He has the arm talent to make off-platform throws, and occasionally even overthrows his targets when under pressure. This could become a strength with many positive reps throughout his tape, but has been inconsistent throughout the season.
30	Pure Rushing	He has fine open field speed, but is by no means a true running threat at the NFL level.
31	Attacking the Middle of the Field	Penix is often too hesitant to attack the middle of the field. When he does, his ball placement is far worse than when he is working outside of the numbers.
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33	Film
34	Game	Major Takeaways				Grade and Game Notes
35	Oregon (10/14/2023)	Left handed. Well-placed deep ball, but not always pretty. Mechanics appear a bit out of sync. Highly accurate. Great downfield anticipation. Mechanics from a clean pocket are inconsistent, but it does not affect his ball placement, touch, or velocity too greatly. Good decision-making. Not on page with his receiver. Good at pushing the ball downfield in every situation. Understands how to give his receivers a chance in man coverage. Very inconsistent upper and lower body mechanics to the point of being a concern.				Early first round grade for a vertical passing offense.
36	Oregon (12/01/2023)	Progression speed appears impressive, but must monitor. Elite deep ball placement. Stares down his first read often. Excellent reaction time under pressure. Inaccurate throw under pressure leading to the interception. Great pocket mobility, but lacks much threat with his legs in the open field. Accuracy under pressure lessens greatly. Great anticipation on deep crossing routes. Can play well with timing. Does not need perfect pocket passing mechanics to make accurate throws.				Early-mid first round grade.
37	Texas (01/01/2024)	Great pocket maneuverability. Ridiculously accurate at all levels of the field. Touch is maintained as needed when on the move. Very aware of his immediate surroundings as well as coverage schemes and what is going on downfield. Accurate from all arm angles. Incredible touch with a variety of throw types based on the depth and situation. Not a natural slider. Insane tight window throws. Evasive to get in space, but not a natural runner. Great anticipation. Leads his receivers beautifully. NFL arm strength.				Franchise tape. Top 10 Prospect.
38	Michigan (01/08/2024)	Getting the ball out quickly, but it appears sloppy. Accuracy appears inconsistent. He does not seem as confident throwing over the middle. Very accurate from clean pocket. Missing throws he typically does not miss. Throws low over the middle of the field. Understands how to see layers and keep his eyes deep downfield. Pressure is causing the offense to operate differently than they did all season. Accuracy is just off this game. Short area accuracy is highly concerning. Decision-making under pressure is also concerning. Needs to attack the middle of the field more confidently. Often lacking a tight spiral. Unfortunate showing that undoubtedly lowered his draft stock.				Bad throws under pressure are concerning. Mid First round prospect after accounting for his injury history.
39	USC (11/04/2023)	Short arms underneath throws, but has the arm strength to do so. Effortless rifle to the sideline. Excellent lower body mechanics from clean pocket. Some slight accuracy issues on all three levels. Touch is decent, but spiral is highly inconsistent. Missing deep throws he typically does not miss. Good evasive maneuver. Downfield accuracy is not as impressive from a clean pocket as it usually is. Velocity on tight window throws are impressive. Great deep ball - it is good that he has the confidence to keep pushing it downfield. Gives his receivers a chance. Interception play was still the right read and a decent throw; the linebacker just played it really well. Manipulating the defense by masking his reads would go a long way with Penix's play style. Good timing when necessary.
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41	Attributes		Grade / 100	Notes
42	Positional Skills	Anticipation	91	Penix has great downfield anticipation and understands how to throw his receivers open. He can work on precise placement and throwing seemingly covered receivers into open space, but his overall anticipation of where the receiver will be by the time the ball makes it downfield is good.
43		Decision-Making	84	His decision-making under pressure is questionable, but he typically does not put the ball in harm's way. His higher turnover worthy play numbers stem more from high passing volume and the nature of Washington's high flying vertical passing offense than from direct decision-making. That said, he needs to work on maximizing plays under pressure. While he does not typically make poor decisions per se, he does not always make the best decisions under pressure either.
44		Progressions	88	He goes through progressions in the vertical passing offense rather quickly, but could still improve with finding the open receiver instead of forcing jump balls when he likes the coverage. A willingness to give his bigger bodied receivers a chance is overall a strength, but he can afford to tone that decision back and use his eyes to find receivers who have actually separated at times.
45	Reading the Field	Scheme Identification	93	Recognizes the blitz often before the snap, but could still improve at recognizing coverage looks.
46		Zone Recognition	87	He reads coverages post-snap quite well, but needs to work on throwing to open space in zone. He leads his receivers well, but more so based on their routes than the opposing scheme.
47		Manipulation	83	He does not stare his receivers down too egregiously, but he also does not try and look defenders off of his reads.
48	Operational	Instincts	88	He has good instincts with regard to feeling pressure, but does not always have a feel for where his receivers will be when moved off spot or when rolling out.
49		Poise	94	His willingness to make throws when the pocket is collapsing and confidence to keep pushing the ball downfield in high pressure and pivotal situations should translate well to the NFL.
50		Command	95	He has full command of the offense, often addressing what he sees pre-snap and is clearly a leader out on the field. He plays with confidence and swagger, and will always give his receivers a chance.
51		Pressure	73	While his pocket presence is outstanding, his mechanics, decision-making, ball placement, progression speed, and ability to find an outlet diminish in the face of pressure.
52	Movement	Pocket Presence	98	His 5.65% pressure to sack percentage over the last two seasons combined is astounding.
53		Mobility	85	He is extremely mobile in the pocket, but this does not always translate to cleanly scrambling outside of the pocket. He is a bit more rigid than he is fluid.
54		Improvisation	62	Penix was 9/36 for 89 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception when being moved off spot during the regular season in 2023. His 58.2% adjusted completion percentage under pressure and lack of pure rushing ability along with injury concerns looming whenever he does take off contribute to his lesser ability to improvise out of structure.
55		Pure Rushing Ability	69	His speed and open field ability are decent in theory, but his ACLs do not want him to have to pivot or take hits out in space.
56	Throwing Mechanics	Lower Body	90	Excellent lower body mechanics from a clean pocket. He executes his throw quickly and compactly, generating a lot of power from his lower half. He abandons his mechanics on shorter throws often because he has the arm to do so, which may be affecting his short area accuracy. His play to play lower body mechanics are subpar, but they are very clean when he elects to use them.
57		Upper Body	77	His intermediate ball placement when everything works in unison is nothing short of spectacular. That said, he short arms many throws, his shoulder rotation is inconsistent, and his release point changes depending on the mechanics leading up to his release. His follow through is also inconsistent, and his lack of a consistent spiral and his ball placement issues usually occur when his upper body mechanics are neglected. This should be rectified easily with so many beautiful throws throughout his tape, but will be an issue in the NFL if it is not addressed quickly.
58		Touch	79	His spiral is often not very clean, and his throws come off a bit too hot rather often. He throws into tight windows well, but his ball placement and ability to throw easily catchable passes over the middle of the field are not quite consistently where they need to be for the NFL.
59	Accuracy	Short	73	Must become more reliable at throwing easily catchable short area throws.
60		Intermediate	80	Ball placement and touch must improve over the middle of the field, but his intermediate boundary placement is superb whether he is on his first or second read.
61		Deep	91	He has an exceptional deep ball, but occasionally puts too much air under it.
62	Potential	Arm Talent	96	Absolute howitzer of an arm
63		Athleticism	82	Deceptively athletic, but not always the smoothest mover nor best open field runner.
64		Consistency	77	His ball placement and decision-making are two areas that must become more consistent.
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66	Final Scouting Report
67	Michael Penix is a highly productive and confident deep ball passer who had over a 10.0 average depth of target in all five years starting. His arm talent is easily NFL caliber, and he makes tight window throws downfield consistently with excellent velocity. In the pocket, he goes through progressions smoothly and has incredible awareness. His pressure to sack conversion percentage over his two seasons as a Husky was just 5.65%. When in high stakes situations, he does not hesitate to sling the ball downfield and give his receivers a chance. If he can go to a vertical passing offense in the NFL, then he could certainly become franchise quarterback. There are many concerns that leave him with a late first round grade as more of a project quarterback despite having better tape than that in 2023. At Indiana, he had season ending right ACL injuries twice. He is a sixth year player who had great productivity at Washington, but his lack of touch and ball placement inconsistencies over the middle for a player with his experience is highly concerning. While his mechanics can still improve on an every down basis with some coaching since he has shown some beautiful mechanics when he uses his drive foot, touch is something that likely will not improve as much at this point. He has an absolute cannon that is highly enticing, but he elects to use it too often at times, and must learn to take the easier pass underneath at times. When pressured, he also does not improvise very well. While he evades pressure truly as well as anyone in the NFL, his ability to find receivers downfield or make plays with his legs diminish. Penix has the tools, skill, and confidence to operate an NFL vertical passing offense at a high level, but the concerning aspects of his game do not make him a surefire day one starter. He was surrounded with talent at Washington, and may struggle to transition to the NFL. Despite being an older prospect, it may serve him best to sit a year and learn the offense before taking the reins in his sophomore or even junior year. Penix may become a great quarterback for the next decade, making him worthy of a late day one pick. That said, he could just as easily see his career fizzle out and never fully adapt to the NFL, especially if he does not land in the right system.
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69	Pro Comparison
70	Zach Wilson. Penix is more mature with a larger sample size of college production, but Zach Wilson performed better under pressure in college. Wilson also did not have the same injury concerns, is not left-handed, and was much younger coming out, but the arm talent, progression speeds, and middle-of-the-field ball placement inconsistencies are all very similar along with their play styles in general.
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