Kirk Cousins Could Be Put in a Weird Position
Kirk Cousins isn’t doing particularly well in Atlanta. Rather than become the Falcons’ missing piece as a strong QB1, Cousins is now a QB2 who is looking for his next opportunity to start.
The cruel irony is that he became a Falcon largely due to the job security that his four-year, $180 million deal provided. He’s now seeing the downside of that contract. Indeed, the job security is too robust, making him hard to move via trade since the money is so meaty. Any chance Atlanta is going to put him in a bit of an awkward spot in August by asking him to shoulder some preseason work?
Kirk Cousins and The Awkward Spot in Atlanta
Right off the top, my opinion: playing Mr. Cousins in the preseason would be foolish.
Safe to say, though, that the Falcons haven’t been governed by external expectations. Almost everyone believed that the former Viking would now be a former Falcon. Instead, he’s still on Atlanta’s roster since the team has dug in its heels, refusing to trade him away for pennies on the dollar.
Journey back in time to December of 2024. Tom Pelissero, a fantastic league insider, was offering an update on the situation confronting Kirk Cousins after the move to Michael Penix.
Pelissero’s take on how things would unfold: “If Cousins remains on the Atlanta roster as of March 16, another $10M in 2026 would become fully guaranteed — not impossible, but practically unfathomable after the decision today.” At July 15th, we have blown past the March 16th date that Pelissero reasonably thought was “unfathomable.”
The point is simply to insist that Atlanta isn’t beholden to expectations. Nor are they a team that’s willing to cave to Cousins’ preferences and nor are they a team that is bound by what most would consider common sense.
These basic observations bring us around to what could be an awkward scenario: does Kirk Cousins get leaned on to play plenty of snaps in the preseason?
Cousins will turn 37 in August. He has been in the NFL since 2012 — the same draft where Harrison Smith got scooped up — meaning he’s moving into his fourteenth NFL season. Usually, players like Cousins don’t get tasked with playing in the preseason. What more is there to prove?
The issue for Atlanta is that Penix is the starter, making him the priority from a health perspective. Sure, Penix could snag a bit of work as the sophomore looks to get a bit more precise before the season starts, but the Falcons aren’t likely to burden their QB1 since the preseason isn’t worth the injury risk for locked-in starters.
Behind Atlanta’s top option — Penix — is Kirk Cousins, Easton Stick, and Emory Jones. Leaning on the standard wisdom would mean shuffling snaps to Stick and Jones, young passers who are jostling for depth chart positioning. Again, though, we come back to that central reality: Atlanta is doing something very unusual.
Since becoming a pro, Cousins has started 159 NFL games while appearing in 164. No shortage of experience for someone who has played a whopping 10,508 NFL snaps. How many snaps does he get in the 2025 preseason? Anything above zero would be bizarre.
The sense I have is that Cousins is someone who genuinely craves NFL success. Put differently, Cousins still wants to prove that he’s a quarterback capable of pushing a team up Mount Lombardi. That ambition is currently unavailable to him; he could see one of his final seasons in the NFL burned up as a backup for an Atlanta team that appears unlikely to shine in the NFC.
In his career, Kirk Cousins has earned roughly $294 million.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
You must be logged in to post a comment.