I will be perfectly honest with you. I have a deep love for Michael Penix Junior. In fact, I haven’t been this attached to a football player in the PNW since Russell Wilson’s rookie year in Seattle. I think he’s special.

I think he has enough physical traits to transition well into the NFL. I believe his arm is elite, and with massive hands, he can absolutely spin it, and he throws one of the prettiest deep passes you will ever see, but I think it is what is inside him that makes him truly special.

His teammates refer to him as the Quiet Assassin. He’s not a demonstrative personality, and maybe sorta prefers to allow his calmness and his actions on the field to do the talking, but make no mistake, he is regarded as the unanimous leader of the UW locker room. He is the alpha dawg. For me, I think there is a greater reason for this particular Penix calm and reserve, and it is that very thing that fascinates me most about him as a player, and person.

People can say whatever they want about how Washington got to their lofty 12-0 status. They can say they haven’t won as dominantly as Oregon, and Penix struggled more in the second half of the season than in the extremely high clip he was playing at during the first half, and, of course, they can say UW should have blown out the pesky Washington State Cougars, and whatever else whatnots.

For me, when I look at Washington, I see a ton of resiliency, and it starts with their quarterback. It’s a fool’s errand to walk away in dismissal of the awesome intangibles of high resiliency.

You want to talk about what it takes to play quarterback in the highest level, how about talking about the inner strength needed to fight through extreme adversity. There is not a single quarterback on this planet who has fought through more adversity than Michael Penix Junior has right now. Penix is a resilient mother fucker, and I would absolutely take him as QB1 for the Seattle Seahawks.

His injury history while he was at Indiana is famous. In four seasons, he tore his ACL in his right knee twice, had his left shoulder separated, and he had a dislocated the sternoclavicular joint in his right arm. There was a point in which he almost walked away from the game. Instead, he entered the transfer portal and joined his old coach Kalen DeBoer in Washington, and the rest is history.

What DeBoer and Penix have done together in leading a Washington football program that two short years ago was an absolute dumpster fire into instant prominence is nothing short of remarkable. This year, Penix leads the nation in passing yards in a system that asks him to make a lot of difficult sideline throws. They trust him that much. If they go on into the playoffs, I think a strong case can be made for Penix to be the GOAT Husky quarterback, and there have been some good ones over the years long before him.

Anyone who says that Penix can no longer run is full of horse crap. He’s plenty athletic, and can easily extend plays whenever needed. I think because of his prior injuries, he much prefers to beat you by throwing instead of running much like CJ Stroud did recently at Ohio State. In fact, Stroud is my exact NFL comp for Penix. I think he’s left handed CJ Stroud, and as a Seattle Seahawk fan, yes, please sign me up for that.

If Michael Penix Junior clears medicals during the draft process (as I suspect he ultimately will), I would wind sprint to the podium for him next Spring if he were sitting at my pick. His story arc in college football has shown me everything I need to know about him as a player and person.

On the other side of this writing, I have grown to become a HUGE Bo Nix fan. Given the fact that my wife is a Duck, I watch more Oregon football than probably most casual Husky fans, and I have sorta grown to adopt this program (don’t judge me, my wife is awesome). Bo Nix is the most impressive quarterback I have seen at Oregon in a long time.

I’ve been more impressed by him than I was with Justin Herbert, and I kinda might like him more than even Marcus Mariota who I thought was awesome in that old Chip Kelly system. Box Nix is leading the nation in quarterback efficiency for a reason.

Some might be dismissive about him and his extremely high completion percentage, and say it’s the system that he plays in which calls for the easy short completions. I say that is lazy thinking, and I don’t think that should be used as a deterrent towards thinking that he can’t have great success in the NFL.

Bo Nix makes every throw needed for Oregon. He can throw deep outs, he can throw intermediate, and he can throw short. He can fit it over defenders and between defenders, and he has wheels that him a genuine threat to take off and run. He throws with great anticipation and awareness. Bo Nix has a lot of fun playmaker in his game.

Of all these exciting draft eligible college quarterbacks this year, in a long list that includes Caleb Williams, Penix, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, JJ McCarthy, Jordan Travis, and Cameron Ward, I think Bo Nix might be the safest pick for a NFL GM out of any of them. With over fifty starts in college football, I think he has, by far, the surest floor. In short, that absurd amount of playing experience is going to have some NFL organizations drooling.

I firmly suspect that Seattle is quite high on Bo Nix because of this experience along with his maturity, productivity, and above all, his crazy good efficiency numbers. The last time Seattle drafted a quarterback they thought could be their franchise guy it was the nation’s leader in efficiency in one Russell Wilson out of Wisconsin in 2012. So yeah, I can completely see Seattle being deeply into Nix.

The truth is for me, as a Seahawks fan, I would do cartwheels down my sidewalk if Seattle drafts either one of these two quarterbacks next Spring. The one silver lining I see to them having an unexpected down season is for them to be in position to do just that.

Some might think that I am being Anti Geno Smith by writing this, but that is not true. I have been a staunch Geno Smith supporter, and remain so. I just see certain writings on the wall for this team moving forward beyond this year.

They are going to be super tight against the salary cap in 2024, and here is the list of players who’s contracts are about to expire; starting defensive tackle Leonard Williams, starting linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner, starting tight end Noah Fant, starting left guard Damien Lewis, and starting center Evan Brown. Three starters on defense and three starters on offense and Seattle currently does not have the cap space available to even sign back two of these players.

Bringing back Leonard Williams is an absolute must considering what Seattle gave up to acquire him and the level of which he still plays at as an interior pass rusher. Jordyn Brooks is a near must as I suspect this is maybe Wagner’s last year playing in the league, and I think, at the very least, Seattle needs to bring back one of Damien Lewis or Evan Brown in order help the continuity of their offensive line.

The easiest and simplest way for Seattle to keep the veterans they want to retain, and to also make another much needed splash signing in free agency next year would to move off of Geno’s contract. They could sign a journeyman vet like Gardner Minshew or Jacoby Brissett, and then take advantage of this deep quarterback class in 2024. This is the conclusion I have reached watching this season unfold the way it now has.

If Seattle hangs onto an expensive Geno Smith, and allows most of these guys to walk, and tries to fill holes cheaply through free agency and the draft, I think Seattle will most likely remain San Francisco’s punching bag for years to come. That is the sobering reality that I see under this scenario.

If Seattle had more younger bright talent on rookie contracts filling out this roster, I would feel much better about continuing to pay and play Geno. They do not have this, even with two pretty good back to back draft classes. The cupboard was that bare when they traded off Russell Wilson.

I think, given the way this roster is set up with contracts about to expire, the team likely thought this was going to be their year to truly take a much bigger step forward competing for the division. So far, that doesn’t look like the case at all, and that is why I think they structured Geno’s contract as they did last Spring by giving themselves a clear financial out at the end of this season. In short, if they don’t achieve what they hoped for with Geno as QB1, they don’t have to stay trapped in that deal, and they can move on.

That was a smart clause they placed in Geno’s contract. Cold blooded for sure, but smart.

As for Geno, if they do move on from him, I think he can be a quality starter on a decent team with less holes on their roster than Seattle. He could move onto Cleveland if they move on from Deshaun Watson in the offseason (I think they might). He could go to Tampa, or Minnesota, or Atlanta, or even Pittsburgh who all have nice rosters and just need a stable starter at QB.

This is sorta what I think is going on for Seattle right now. I think we are fully entering an evaluation phase as we head further into the toughest part of their season.

These tough games coming up will tell us a lot about the team and Geno Smith. If he can turn it on against tougher competition, and get some quality wins through this tough stretch of games, then I think that tells the club he’s worth continuing to build around. If it’s all really rough and Geno basically continues to look like he did against San Francisco and LA even with better play calling (that’s another topic for another piece), then I think fans of this team should really start looking at some of these young bright quarterbacks in college because one of them could more likely be coming here.

As it stands now, I think the Seahawks are probably looking very hard at both Bo Nix and Michael Penix Junior as possible long term solutions to their quarterback position. I think they rightly should be doing this regardless of how Geno plays.

With Penix, I think he’s a player who likely fits what a coach such as Sean McVay loves to do in attacking the deep middle of the field behind the linebackers and in front of safeties through play action. Penix can launch a ball with ease downfield on a boot leg, and he has the special arm talent to drop it into tight windows. My fear as a Seahawks fan is that McVay is also very keen on him.

Bo Nix feels like he could work wonderfully in a Kyle Shanahan offense getting out on boot legs, getting the ball out quickly and accurately and into the hands of playmakers, and just commanding the whole offense like a point guard. I think Bo Nix is very much a Brock Purdy type player but quicker and with better overall athleticism. I see a little Dak Prescott in his game, as well. Just like Prudy and Prescott, I wouldn’t be shocked if he got drafted and found quick success as a rookie.

So, given all of this, it’s going to be this really interesting bittersweet watching of this last and final PAC 12 Championship Game. On one hand, I am still super bummed out over the PAC 12 dissolvement, but on this whole other hand, holy shit is this conference ever going out with the bang!

It is beyond fascinating to see these two bitter rivalry schools battling each other for a chance to go the college playoffs with each school being quarterbacked by a dude who could win the Heisman Trophy next month. Hollywood could not script this scenario any better.

For me, I won’t lie about it. I am as fair weathered of a Husky fan as any alum could possibly be. I have always been more of a Seahawks fan than a Husky one, but because of Michael Penix Junior, I badly want the Huskies to win this game. I want his unique story about overcoming adversity to end with him winning the Heisman, and leading his team into the college playoffs.

As I said in the beginning of this piece, Penix is my guy. In his two years here in Seattle, I have come to appreciate him in ways I have only appreciated a few other athletes in this town. I have appreciated Steve Largent this way, and Sue Bird this way, and for a while, Russell Wilson. For me, Penix is that type of special. If that makes me more of a homer, then so be it. Homer me up.

I also really truly dig on Bo Nix a lot, too, and if the Huskies were to lose this historic game against Oregon, the sting of it would be taken away a tad by knowing that Bo Nix won. I think Nix is a pretty solid dude who had battled his own sets of adversity at Auburn, and found his rebirth here in the PNW. His story is a pretty cool one, and he’s a worthy guy to root for, and I enjoy watching him play.

In the end, if I can’t get the UW victory for Penix, I want an epically fantastic game for both of these special quarterbacks. I want this to be a game remembered for its greatness and not any sort of lopsidedness. It’s exciting to think about it in that way.

For all the back and forth pettiness that Duck fans and Husky fans probably have about these two quarterbacks, I think it is pretty silly for a fan of either program to dismiss the talents of the quarterback of the other. I think if Michael Penix Junior was QB1 for the Ducks, the entire state of Oregon would be absolutely gaga over him, and if Bo Nix was the Husky quarterback, almost everyone in the 206 would be talking about how much the Seahawks need to draft him.

But this is the dumb stupid petty nature of college football rivalries. Neither side wants to admit that the other is pretty even though both of them very much are.

This is where I will be more than happy to say that, in my own fandom, I am better than that. I despise the San Francisco 49ers with my whole entire being, but I fully recognize the specialness in Brock Purdy, and his likability. It’s fully possible to hate on a program and organization and think to yourself ‘but that player is pretty fucking cool.”

On my end, I just here for both of these quarterbacks. I am into them, and I want one of them on the Seahawks roster next year. Either one of them, or Jayden Daniels from LSU who looks like the second coming of Randall Cunningham, and his story is another pretty damn good one.

Go Hawks.