The Atlanta Falcons have gotten themselves into quite the conundrum at the quarterback position. Atlanta signed Kirk Cousins to a huge contract last offseason and seemingly refuses to trade him away. It seems that Cousins will be a team player at the next phase of the team’s offseason program.
The Falcons expect Kirk Cousins to show up to the team’s mandatory minicamp tomorrow, sources told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.
Cousins did not attend Atlanta’s voluntary OTAs towards the end of May. But he was present for offseason workouts back in April.
Cousins has made it clear that his preference is still to be traded to a different team where he could start.
Unfortunately for Cousins, there are not as many starting jobs up in the air as there were earlier this spring. Cousins’ best hope would be for the Steelers to make a strong offer for him. But those hopes died when Aaron Rodgers officially signed with the Steelers last week.
One Falcons insider recently suggested the Browns as a potential trade partner.
The Browns already have a full quarterback room, but they could become desperate enough to add a sure thing like Cousins later this summer.
Falcons accused of being “stubborn” on Kirk Cousins
The Kirk Cousins situation is turning into a headache for the Falcons.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano accused the Falcons of being “stubborn” with how they’re dealing with Cousins this offseason.
Graziano explained why he thinks the team has been hesitant to make a move.
“Stubbornness likely had something to do with it,” Graziano reported. “They signed Cousins for $100 million in guaranteed money 14 months ago, and team ownership wasn’t thrilled about the idea of releasing him after doling out all that money for 14 not-so-great games in 2024.”
The Falcons seem to want to squeeze every ounce of production out of Cousins, especially since they’ve agreed to pay him so much.
Atlanta may be willing to trade Cousins if another team pays a big chunk of his remaining guaranteed money. But that is a hard sell for any NFL team.
“And when it came time to talk trade, the Falcons were asking interested teams to pay a significant portion of that remaining $37.5 million in guaranteed money. That meant those teams weren’t offering the Falcons a return that Atlanta deemed worthwhile,” Graziano added.
At this point, the most likely outcome seems to be Cousins staying in Atlanta in 2025 as the backup for Michael Penix Jr.
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