Longtime Vikings QB Could Be Nearing the End
Due to some injury serendipity, ex-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has joined the Atlanta Falcons‘ starting lineup in recent weeks. The reemergence has flopped.
A longtime Vikings QB could be nearing the end after several rough outings in recent weeks, raising real questions about his future with the team.
Even with an impressive stable of weapons, including a Top 3 running back in all of football, Cousins has not rekindled any magic from the prime of his career. His days as a starter are probably over after this season, and at age 37, this end is likely nigh.
Former Vikings Passer Kirk Cousins No Longer Effective
The juice is just gone.
Cousins Posts Another Showing at Home vs. SEA
The Seattle Seahawks boatraced the Falcons on Sunday, defeating Cousins’ team by a score of 37-9. Cousins, with no one breathing down his neck because Michael Penix Jr. is hurt, completed 15 of 30 passes for 162 yards, no touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.
For his troubles, he fired up an 18.2 ESPN QBR mark, which is in line with the bad version of J.J. McCarthy from his six starts.
Cousins is playing utterly pitifully, and this particular loss occurred at home. The man doesn’t have many excuses to explain away the terrible performance in 2025. He’s just not any good.
The Season-Long Numbers Are Dreadful
Of all NFL quarterbacks with 150 dropbacks in 2025 — there are 42 who fit the criteria — Cousins ranks 40th of 42 per EPA+CPOE. He’s that bad.
Cousins also has an ESPN QBR of 31.8, which ranks him as the third-worst quarterback in the NFL, besting only Cam Ward and (shield your eyes) J.J. McCarthy. The veteran has produced 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in 4 starts, with his career-worst completion percentage (60.9%), aside from his second season in Washington, when he barely played.
It’s a rough go for Cousins in life after Minnesota, and he may be washed.
Falcons in QB Hell
What’s more, Atlanta is in rough shape for the long term at quarterback. In 2024, when it shockingly drafted Penix Jr., the franchise was supposed to have the quarterback situation solved with two bets: Penix Jr. and Cousins.
Fast forward 19 months, and Penix Jr. has struggled to resemble a franchise quarterback, Cousins stinks right now, and Penix Jr. tore his ACL, casting his 2026 campaign into doubt as well.
It’s quite mind-boggling, but Atlanta may be quarterback shopping — again — this March and April, turning over stones that may have Kyler Murray’s name or revisiting the draft for another dartboard throw.
The Penix Jr. + Cousins plan has emphatically flopped, even after the Falcons’ brass prided itself on extra protection at the game’s most important position.
The head coach might even get canned, too.
A QB2 Option, at Best, in 2026
For Cousins, his days as a bonafide starter are toast. The latest Penix Jr. injury created a lane for Cousins to strut his stuff. Instead, he has performed like one of the NFL’s very worst quarterbacks, which is not terribly unheard of for a 37-year-old who tore his Achilles tendon two years ago.
Cousins won’t be banished from the NFL, but when the offseason rolls around, if the Falcons cut ties, Cousins will almost certainly latch onto a roster as a team’s QB2, not a QB1.
His days as a starter are gone after 2025. A quarterback who can’t cook with Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Darnell Mooney doesn’t have the same gas as before.
Falcons-Media on Cousins
Blogging Dirty‘s Jason Kandel after Week 14 on Cousins’ downturn: “This is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true. Cousins will be 38 by the start of next season, and the fall-off has been sharp. The Michigan State product was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2022, yet Terry Fontenot still awarded him a four-year $180 million contract at age 36 after tearing his Achilles.”
“That Achilles tear has started to take its toll, as has London’s absence, but the real reason for the struggles is Cousins isn’t who he used to be. He threw a career-high 16 interceptions last season, but still looked like a viable bridge starter. But as it stands, he has no claim to being a current-age starter.”
Cousins’ Falcons next take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football. The whole world will get to witness Cousins in primetime.
Kandel concluded, “They had a chance to trade him last offseason, yet Fontenot inexplicably chose not to. And now that decision is coming back to haunt him, but it still seems likely that the Falcons exercise the out in his contract this offseason in order to save money rather than retain him behind Penix.”
Atlanta would eat $35 million in dead cap hit if it cuts Cousins before June 1st, 2026, when the offseason arrives.
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