Atlanta Falcons News & Rumors

After the Falcons benched a struggling Kirk Cousins, the expectation has been for a release to commence. Cousins does not look to have a route back to Atlanta’s starting job, especially after No. 8 overall pick Michael Penix Jr. showed promise in his three starts.

A release will remain the expectation, but Terry Fontenot attempted to craft an alternative solution — one that may not be taken at face value. The fifth-year Falcons GM said (via The Athletic’s Josh Kendall) the team would be fine keeping Cousins as its backup.

Fontenot, who has survived in his post despite four straight losing seasons, oversaw a widely criticized plan that featured the Falcons both giving Cousins $90MM guaranteed at signing and then drafting Penix in the top 10 six-plus weeks later. This historically unusual route led to a benching after 14 games, with Cousins not showing the form that had made him a steady option in Minnesota. This led to retirement rumors, but the 36-year-old passer will aim to play in 2025.

Players in Cousins’ contractual neighborhood are not backups, as the immobile QB will be due a $27.5MM base salary in 2025. No quarterback with a salary north of $12.5MM is a current backup. Cousins is due to count $40MM against the Falcons’ cap this year. The Falcons keeping the 13-year veteran would also leave them on the hook for an additional $10MM guaranteed, due March 17. The Falcons also included a no-trade clause in Cousins’ contract, which all but ensures he will hit free agency.

The team will almost certainly look to escape that final payment by designating the QB as a post-June 1 cut. That measure would split a monster dead money bill over two offseasons, helping the Falcons after their 2024 mistake. The $65MM penalty would check in second all time — by a substantial margin — in terms of a single-player dead money hit. Russell Wilson still leads the way, with part two of his $83MM-plus dead money charge set to hit the Broncos’ payroll soon.

Any hopes the Falcons would have in trading Cousins’ $27.5MM salary would need to involve the NFC South club paying most of it to facilitate a deal. Given Cousins’ concerning play before his benching, the Falcons will have a near-impossible task of convincing a team to take on the contract. Though, this year is not on track to feature a promising QB market — either in free agency or the draft. This would help explain why the Falcons will attempt to dangle their sunk cost a bit longer.

Cousins cannot be cut until after Super Bowl LIX, and no post-June 1 releases can take place until the start of the 2025 league year (March 12). This gives Atlanta some time, even though the odds are against a trade coming to pass.

Cousins did elevate Atlanta’s passing attack compared to where it was with Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder, but a difficult late-season stretch prompted Raheem Morris to bench a player the team hoped would start for two seasons. That was the party line, anyway. In reality, top-10 QB investments do not sit for two years. Penix will now have a full offseason to develop as a starter, with Cousins likely to hit free agency for a third time.

Kirk Cousins‘ days of maneuvering his way into windfall contracts are almost definitely over, as the Falcons came to regret the deal they authorized in March. Michael Penix Jr. replaced Cousins late in the season, leading to rumors of the veteran quarterback contemplating retirement.

The deliberation looks to have produced an answer. Cousins is aiming to continue his career next season, Yahoo.com’s Charles Robinson notes. This effort will, of course, be centered around landing with a fourth NFL team. The Falcons are expected to release the longtime starter, a move that will come sign significant dead money.

Atlanta guaranteed Cousins $90MM at signing, which will make a release painful. A 2025 cut will carry a $65MM dead money hit, one that will undoubtedly be spread out over two offseasons via a post-June 1 designation. The Cousins release, even in a world in which the Jets cut Aaron Rodgers, would rank second in NFL history for dead money (behind the Broncos’ Russell Wilson cut). If/once Atlanta designates Cousins a post-June 1 release at the start of the 2025 league year, a $40MM 2025 cap hit would hit the books. As Penix will have a full offseason to prep as the Falcons’ starter, his short-lived mentor will look elsewhere.

The Falcons had long planned to use Cousins as their starter for two seasons, but their top-10 Penix investment interfered with that reality from the start. As it turned out, the team pulled the trigger late in Year 1. Penix will enter the offseason as Atlanta’s unquestioned starter.

Cousins’ concerning 2024 form will drastically alter his market, though a degree of interest should still emerge. This may not be a good year to need a quarterback. The 2025 QB draft class is not viewed as a group on the level of the past two crops, and the Vikings could take Sam Darnold off the market via the franchise tag. The likes of Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Daniel Jones would move up the free agency board in that event. Rodgers has not decided on playing in 2025; that will also be a variable that affects Cousins. The Steelers’ late-season swoon also stands to affect Wilson’s market, as the 36-year-old may not be too far north of where Cousins checks in financially come March.

The supply-and-demand issue at QB should still generate interest in Cousins, who turned 36 just before this season. Teams who will find themselves unable to land Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward will need to look into bridge options. Cousins carried strong enough value in 2024 he was seemingly able to avoid a bridge scenario — or, so he believed at the time of signing — but nothing in the realm of a four-year, $180MM contract is coming. It will, then, be interesting to see what kind of numbers the 10-year NFL starter commands.

Cousins led the NFL with 16 interceptions, despite being benched after 14 games. He did elevate the Falcons’ passing attack compared to where it was with Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder, helping the team to seven wins while averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. Now being nearly 18 months removed from the October 2023 Achilles tear also would stand to help the immobile vet, but his 2024 form will still factor prominently into his market.