The St. Patrick’s Day weekend was a big one in Atlanta, not because of the holiday, but because it was an important date for the Falcons and Kirk Cousins.
Keeping the veteran quarterback on the roster triggered a $10 million bonus that became fully guaranteed. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris spoke multiple times about the situation, telling Atlanta reporters that they intend to keep Cousins.
So naturally, when the time comes, the entire NFL world re-hatches the entire ordeal as if it’s new information. The latest being ESPN insider Dan Graziano, who says it’s not an overreaction to say the Falcons continue to mishandle their quarterback situation.
“Easy to say, I know, because it’s not my money, but that $90 million is a sunk cost. Keeping Cousins around doesn’t do anyone any good. It’s no good for Penix, because the moment he has two or three tough games in a row, fans are going to be clamoring for Cousins to replace him. It’s obviously no good for Cousins, who’s another year removed from his Achilles injury and eager to play and show people he still can. And it’s hard to see how it’s good for a Falcons coaching staff that has to manage and continue to answer questions about a difficult situation,” Graziano writes.
It isn’t an ideal situation. There’s no doubt about that, and Graziano is correct that everyone said it was a bad decision in the moment and continues to be, but I actually think the Falcons are making the correct decision to hold Cousins’ feet to the fire.
“Atlanta is lucky that Cousins isn’t the type of guy who’s going to hold out or make things difficult on the team in an effort to force his way out. But if Penix starts every game this season, the Falcons will have paid Cousins $100 million for a total of 14 starts, and keeping him around means this mess will continue to hang over Penix while he works to make this his team.
The Falcons would be better off just ripping off the Band-Aid and moving on. But it doesn’t look like they’re going to do that,” Graizano finished.
“Ripping off the Band-Aid” is purely a reason to keep everything copacetic on the roster. If the Falcons believe it won’t be too much of a distraction, that shouldn’t be a concern. Obviously, it could be a story for the public, but if Raheem Morris and everyone else is pulling on the same rope in Flowery Branch, it shouldn’t matter.
Graziano isn’t wrong. It could present issues, but if I’m the Falcons, I swallow the difficult pill that we won’t be competing for a Super Bowl in 2025. So, what benefits us the most in 2026? A post-June 1 trade of Cousins would benefit the team the most. That’s how I’m playing my cards if I’m the Falcons.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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