Kirk Cousins said it himself. He didn’t forget how to play quarterback. The four-time Pro Bowl selection just didn’t do it well enough often enough to keep his job as the starter in his first season with the Atlanta Falcons.
Don’t write off the veteran just yet.
There’s no sugarcoating the way Cousins played over the past five games. He struggled mightily, throwing just one touchdown pass and nine interceptions in that span.
But this was the same guy who posted a 117.2 passer rating and led the Falcons to a 22-21 comeback win on the final drive against the host Philadelphia Eagles on “Monday Night Football” in the second week of the season — and just his second start coming back from surgery for a torn Achilles tendon that cut short his sixth and final year with the Minnesota Vikings last fall.
Cousins also threw for 509 yards and four touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 3, leading the way to Atlanta’s overtime victory at home in the NFC South Division matchup. He had four touchdown passes and a 145.9 passer rating in another win over the Bucs on Oct. 27, this one in Florida to complete a sweep of the regular-season series, then followed up with three touchdown passes and a 144.8 rating in a victory against the Dallas Cowboys a week later.
Then came a terrible stretch. That prompted Falcons first-year head coach Raheem Morris to make the bold decision to bench Cousins — who played his first six NFL seasons in Washington before moving on to Minnesota after that and then to Atlanta in March — for rookie Michael Penix Jr. in the middle of a playoff chase.
The Falcons lost four straight games, including three in a row against teams with tough defenses — the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers and Minnesota — before barely beating the struggling Las Vegas Raiders (2-12) this past Monday. Cousins threw only 17 passes, completing 11 for 112 yards, one touchdown and one interception in the 15-9 win in Las Vegas. That wasn’t good enough to keep him in the lineup.
Penix, the eighth overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, gets a soft landing for the first start of his pro career. The Falcons (7-7) welcome the woeful New York Giants (2-12) to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, and Atlanta could win that game by having Penix hand off to Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier 50 times.
Cousins will watch from the sideline as an expensive backup. The Falcons gave him a $180 million, four-year contract on the day that free agency opened this year. Cousins got $100 million guaranteed, and $27.5 million of that is still owed to him. His contract, which includes a no-trade clause, complicates a pending divorce from Atlanta.
Of course, Cousins is also just one play away from going back under center if Penix gets hurt.
And if Penix stays healthy, this still isn’t the end for Cousins. As recently as this month, Morris was heaping praise on him.
“That guy has carried us,” the coach said after Cousins was picked off four times by the Chargers on Dec. 1. “That guy has got us to the point where we’re 6-6 and we’re first place in the division. Still got everything in front of us, despite what happened today. It’s up to us to bounce back and find a way to win football games, and there’s no better man than (No.) 18 to go do that for us.”
They are no longer in first place. The Falcons are chasing the Bucs (8-6), but Atlanta would have the head-to-head tiebreaker if those teams wind up tied atop the division standings. With where they sit in the conference picture, a wild-card route to the playoffs isn’t a good backup plan.
Cousins turns 37 before the start of the 2025 season. He should still have plenty of football left in his right arm. He could veto any trade and force Atlanta to release him. If the Falcons designate Cousins for release after June 1, they would incur a dead-cap hit of $40 million. The Broncos took on a $49.5 million hit this season by releasing Russell Wilson, who could not reproduce the success of his Seattle Seahawks days in Denver but is currently holding down the starting job with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s pro football. There’s a standard that I have for myself, that the team has for me,” Cousins said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t playing up to that standard consistently enough. It is what it is. You roll with it. Now, you still get ready, one play away kind of a thing, and support Mike and just try to help our team be able to find a way to win these last three to get in the playoffs. That’s what it’s all about. That’s my focus.”
Several teams will enter the offseason looking for a new starting quarterback, including the Giants, the Raiders and the Tennessee Titans. The Cleveland Browns and New York Jets also could be in the mix.
Cousins isn’t at a point where he should accept a backup job. There are too many mediocre quarterbacks across the league.
The NFL hasn’t seen the last of Kirko Chainz.