The Falcons top priority heading into the offseason is figuring out what to do with Kirk Cousins. In an ideal world, they can find a new home for him before the start of next season, alleviating the maximum amount of cap space and affording them much more room to upgrade the roster in other areas.
The only problem with that is Kirk Cousins is owed a $10 million roster bonus on March 17th, which is where a classic game of hardball could come into play. The Falcons might be willing to bite that bullet in hopes they can convince him to waive his no-trade clause when teams desperate for a quarterback come calling later in the offseason. It’s a bit of a risk, but the Falcons do have some leverage in the situation, given Cousins is on his last leg and probably doesn’t want to spend his final years in the league as a backup quarterback.
However, for any of this to work, Atlanta must be fully prepared to pay Kirk Cousins $40 million next season to hold the clipboard for Michael Penix Jr. A stance Terry Fontenot doubled down on today ahead of this year’s NFL Combine.
“No, it hasn’t changed,” Fontenot said about the possibility of keeping Cousins on the roster next season. “Just like with any player at any position, or any decision we make, we always have to look at all the circumstances and do what’s absolute best for the Atlanta Falcons, but at this point, that hasn’t changed.”
For now, the standoff between the two sides continues, but we’ll really know where the Falcons stand in less than a month, when that $10 million roster bonus is due on March 17th. If Atlanta holds onto Kirk Cousins past that date, it shows they really are willing to keep him on the roster to be the team’s backup if no trade comes to fruition later in the offseason.
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Photo: Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
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