Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins met with the Atlanta Falcons front office and it doesn’t seem like a solution for Cousins and the team has been decided yet for 2025. According to Albert Breer of The Monday Morning Quarterback, the quarterback wants to start in 2025 — and that might not be possible in Atlanta.
The team isn’t fully giving up on Cousins after a bad year in 2024. But what’s the point in bringing back Cousins after benching him at the end of the season?
The only reason I think Atlanta would be interested in not releasing him is in an attempt to trade him and receive assets back. And if they do trade him, a deal would likely come after June 1.
The Falcons will be able to save the most money in cap space while also lessening the dead cap hit if they wait until June 1 to make a move with Cousins, assuming their stance will change.
Does Atlanta believe it still has value in Kirk Cousins?
It’s interesting the Falcons aren’t willing to budge on Cousins. While I get they don’t want to feel like it was a waste, it feels unnecessary to keep him around. Penix is older considering he just finished his rookie season.
And Atlanta turning to him to end the season felt like they were ready to turn to Penix to lead the offense. I’m not quite sure what the Falcons see he can do next year.
If you start him, which is his desire to start on a team next year, what is the message you’re sending to Penix? And benching him with no intention of playing him seems irrational too, especially when you consider the value he has.
It always felt like the Falcons would let him go and a team like the Cleveland Browns would pounce on him and bring him in for a year or two while they prepare their future quarterback.
Now that they’ve essentially shut down Cousins’ availability, it begs the question — what’s their motive? Maybe they’re looking at possibly raising his value toward the trade deadline.
Financially, it doesn’t make sense to even consider a draft day trade. Maybe the Falcons are simply saying they have no interest in releasing him right now. If that’s the case, the Falcons might need to wait out until a team gets needy for a QB.
But if they truly intend on starting Cousins in 2025, you have to wonder what the play is — and what it means for Penix moving forward.