With the second season of Netflix’s Quarterback documentary series releasing earlier this week, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports gave some interesting context to one of the more solemn storylines of the show. Two years after appearing on the show’s first season, in which he shined as the starter of a 13-4 Vikings team who led a league-leading eight game-winning drives, Kirk Cousins returned to the show at one of the lowest points of his career. 
Coming off a 2023 campaign in which he missed the final nine games of the season with a torn Achilles tendon, Cousins found himself on the show with a new team. With the injury having ended a contract year for Cousins, his future in Minnesota had come into question. In a home interview captured in the series, Cousins harkened back to a separate interview from Atlanta’s trip to Minnesota in 2024 that highlighted the situation.
“I was asked by the broadcasting group for the game, ‘What about Atlanta made you want to leave Minnesota?'” Cousins recalled. “And I said, ‘That question is the wrong question. I didn’t want to leave Minnesota. There was nothing about anywhere that made me want to leave Minnesota. We wanted to be in Minnesota.’ But it became clear that we were gonna be there year to year, and that’s what we didn’t want.”
He continued, “At that point, we said, ‘Alright, we need to look elsewhere. If that’s our only option, then we’ll be back.’ And when we said, ‘Well, we looked around and we found there’s an opportunity that would be a longer commitment — would you be interested in giving us that longer commitment?’ (Minnesota) said, ‘No, we’re good with our offer.’ I said, ‘Okay, you made my decision really easy.'”
From that context, it’s easy to see how it all played out. Cousins desired a new deal with the Vikings, but coming off a serious injury in his age-35 season, Minnesota was weary of giving him anything long-term. The team was honest with him, telling him that they’d be willing to bring him back on a one-year deal and that they’d be drafting a rookie quarterback to groom to eventually replace him.
Unhappy with that situation, he heard the offer from the Falcons that included four years and $100MM in guarantees, a deal the Vikings were never going to touch. When Minnesota confirmed as much, he took Atlanta’s offer with the understanding that he was entering a better situation in which his status as the team’s new franchise quarterback was unquestioned. Then, the Falcons did the exact thing that led Cousins to leave Minnesota, drafting a first-round quarterback. As we frequently saw in headlines afterwards, Cousins and his agent were blindsided by the team’s decision.
Still, Cousins was the recipient of a shiny, new contract and had the keys to the offense. Unfortunately, it all came with a first-round talent breathing down his neck, something he had tried so desperately to avoid. Regardless, Cousins kept his head down, leading the team to a 6-3 start to the season before suffering an apparent arm injury in a Week 10 loss to the Saints.
Were he to have not had Michael Penix Jr. waiting eagerly on the bench for his first real chance at some action, perhaps Cousins would’ve recognized the minor nature of the injury and taken time to rest and recover for a late-season playoff push. Instead, likely fueled by the fear of Penix taking the field in his place and never ceding the job back to him, Cousins pushed through. What followed were some of the worst games of Cousins’ career. A loss of arm strength was evident, and as a result, the team lost four straight games in which Cousins threw zero touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Eventually, Cousins reached his lowest point and was benched in favor of Penix. The very thing he feared, the thing he left Minnesota to avoid, had happened, and it may have been a result of his fear pushing him to play when he should’ve been healing.
Now, he enters 2025 as a backup with the sixth-largest cap hit in the NFL. The same contract that drew him away from Minnesota and into the situation he’s found himself now remains as the biggest hurdle in finding a trade partner that would allow him to leave. With his $27.5MM salary fully guaranteed for 2025, the Falcons can’t cut him, but that figure is going to be tough to get another team to accept.
At the last report of the situation, there was no trade market for Cousins. Perhaps some quarterback-needy team — maybe the Saints, Colts, or even the Browns — will find some agreeable terms that allow Cousins a new change of scenery. For now, though, he projects to be the most expensive backup quarterback in the NFL.
Poor baby and his $100M contract. That must be rough. I thought professional athletes were supposed to relish competition, not cry about it.
What crying?
The man was asked a question. He answered it candidly. It makes for good television.
Look – you can either want people to make/participate in content for us to consume, or you can call them babies when they do. You can’t really have both.
Leaving for money is a personal decision no one can judge. But hey, if Kirk is all business he can’t be mad when ATL is all business and drafts Penix. And he can’t complain that they won’t trade him, it’s his contract that prevents it from happening. Natural consequences
Awewww
He was greedy. He should have stayed and competed in Minnesota. It is a better situation all the way around. Better everything! No sympathy. His greed got him
They were pretty clearly planning to move on
NFLPA permanent representative making up stories to justify players bad behavior again.
Kirk Cousins has always been a greedy, selfish player and somewhat cowardly. He leads poorly and is afraid to compete. Cousins has made his own bed now, and he can lie in it.
His last best hope was as a Kevin O’Connell product, a system quarterback on a very good team.
I used to be upset with players who try to get the best deal for their services. But knowing now the effect of playing professional football on their bodies even long after their playing days, I don’t blame them anymore.
So was Atlanta, first chance they got. Before he even played a snap they drafted a first round quarterback. But hey that’s on him, he has always been about the money. Shojlda stayed in dc to begin with
Contributions are welcome to the Kirk Cousins’ GO FUND ME ACCOUNT !!
Am I supposed to feel bad for this whiny baby?
thirteen years in the league .. and he’s played a total of five playoff games .. no clue why any team would have offered cousins another multi year deal .. guess it only took one desperate team
Yeah, he should play better defense
He would have a better defense if he took less money
Dorothy didn’t want to leave Kansas.
Maybe Cousins should honor his contract and try and have a productive training camp and win his job back rather then whining. If I was making what he is I certainly wouldn’t be whining …..
My takeaway from this story is the difference between an honest team management versus one that is not. Money wasn’t the only factor in the decision-making process. The team did not deal with good faith. I get it, to some good faith is not important.
If I were an athlete or famous at all, I wouldn’t answer a single question from anyone, ever. The reaction to a man being in and answering questions in a show that millions of people will watch is absurd.
Good luck trying to tell your wife that you refuse to answer any questions…lol.
We will keep him until it makes sense to deal him. He’s not helping his value with these comments.
He’s getting paid $27 million to not play!
He might get lucky. Starting QB is injury prone
Sounds like a bigger contract was more important to Kirk than staying in Minnesota. He got exactly what he wanted.
He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth. He’s saying “if I knew they would replace me with Penix, I would have stayed in Minnesota” but Minnesota also drafted McCarthy. So I’m not really sure what his point is. Is he saying he wanted to be in the same situation in Minnesota but with less money? Because that’s what would have happened if he stayed in Minnesota. I’m not really sure what his BA is trying to say but at least he saved money by getting a haircut at great clips