Keeping Kirk Cousins Could Pay Dividends For The Falcons

Atlanta, Ga – On Saturday after 4:00 pm eastern, the Atlanta Falcons were obligated to keep quarterback Kirk Cousins on the roster. This will guarantee Cousins a $10 million bonus for being on the roster in 2025.

At the NFL Combine, general manager Terry Fontenot stated that the Falcons were comfortable with keeping Cousins on the team as a backup. Although Falcons fans and some media were vocal about Fontenot making this statement and saying the Falcons were screwed, this might be the smartest move they could have made.

Cousins has made it clear that he wants to play next year.

Whether the Falcons cut Cousins or keep him, they will have to pay him $27.5 million for this season. Instead of losing him for nothing and having to pay him the hefty salary regardless, they could possibly trade him and at the least maybe get some of that salary paid by another team.

The ideal situation is that he get’s traded before the season. This way, a team could possibly offer a draft pick and pay some of his contract, according to NFL Network analyst Steve Wyche. He believes that the Cleveland Browns might be one of the teams that may reach out to the Falcons.

“Cleveland might say, you know what Atlanta, we’ll give you a fifth-round draft pick for next year and we’ll pick up half or two-thirds of his contract,” stated Wyche.

There are two more teams that could come along and offer a deal for Cousins, the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, considering their quarterback situation. Or, if a starting quarterback goes down during the season, a team could be reaching out.

Therefore, keeping Cousins and possibly getting something for him rather than just lose $27.5 million makes all the sense in the world, including having him backup Michael Penix Jr. and being a key mentor for him.