Kirk Cousins Linked to Intriguing AFC Team
The Atlanta Falcons will embark on the 2025 regular season with Michael Penix Jr at QB1. There’s no turning back.
Kirk Cousins Linked to Intriguing AFC Team
Atlanta invested $180 million over four years in Kirk Cousins last offseason, but the experiment ended after 14 games — in favor of Penix Jr. — and the Falcons basically burned money in front of a national audience.
And according to ESPN, because Cousins will likely need a new NFL team this offseason, the New York Jets could make sense as a landing spot.
For starters, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer tweeted Sunday: “Big scoopage: Aaron Rodgers flew back to New Jersey last week to meet with the Jets about his future with the team, only to be told that the team was moving on from him.”
“That means that he will be a June 1 designation that allows him to sign with any team in the league on March 12, if he decides to continue to play. Given that Aaron made the effort to fly back to discuss his future, all signs point to him continuing to play. It just won’t be for the Jets.”
With Rodgers presumably out of the way, New York will need somebody at QB1 in 2025, and the Jets’ seventh pick in the draft isn’t ideal to select a quarterback. The upcoming class isn’t deep like the 2024 version.
Therefore, ESPN’s Rich Cimini spitballed Cousins to the Jets this week. “Kirk Cousins could shake free from the Atlanta Falcons, who have committed to Michael Penix Jr. after the making the switch last season,” Cimini explained. “Cousins is an interesting possibility because his former Vikings GM, Rick Spielman, is now the Jets’ senior football adviser. He’d be cost-effective. The Falcons are on the hook for his $27.5 million base salary (guaranteed), so the Jets would have to pay only the veterans minimum, roughly $1.2 million.”
Why will Cousins become a commodity this offseason? It’s quite simple: He’ll already receive a mighty paycheck from the Falcons. His situation resembles Russell Wilson’s one year ago when a quarterback-needy team could sign him for cheap. That was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As mentioned by Cimini, Spielman aided the Jets in their recent general manager and head coach search. Soon after, he signed on permanently as a senior advisor. There’s evidently a chance that he still holds Cousins in high regard, and for a team with no plan at quarterback, an affordable Cousins — has anyone ever typed that? — could be the meal ticket. Spielman personally signed Cousins as the Vikings’ boss seven years ago.
If not the Jets, teams like the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, and Tennessee Titans could dip toes in the Cousins sweepstakes. The Browns, especially, make sense.
Cousins will turn 37 this summer.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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