It’s always good to have a safe backup at the most important position in football, but is a $100 million price tag pushing it?
Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot doesn’t seem to think so.
Fontenot told reporters on Thursday that the team is “very comfortable” with Kirk Cousins as the team’s backup quarterback after benching the $180-million starter for the final three games of the season.
“We are very comfortable moving forward with (Kirk Cousins) as backup,” Fontenot said in his address, per The Athletic‘s Josh Kendall. “Kirk is a great man and he’s been great support for (Michael Penix Jr.). We are very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
Cousins joined the team as a free agent ahead of this season, signing a four-year, $180-million contract that came with a $50-million signing bonus and $100 million guaranteed. In 2025, Cousins will carry a cap hit of $40 million according to Spotrac. If he is released ahead of June 1, 2025, he carries a dead cap hit of $65 million.
Fontenot clarified that earlier reports about the team potentially cutting the QB are invalid, and the team is comfortable keeping him on the roster despite his cap hit.
After starting the Falcons’ first 14 games and leading them to a 7-7 record, the 36-year-old was benched in favour of rookie QB Penix Jr., who the team selected with their first-round pick (eighth overall) at the 2024 draft.
Fontenot said that when the team signed Cousins and gave him two years of guaranteed money, they expected two years of “high-level quarterback play,” but admitted that “it didn’t happen.”
He explained that there were no health issues with the QB, clarifying simply that “the play just wasn’t there.”
Whether Cousins wants to be Atlanta’s backup option under centre is still up for speculation, with the GM saying he’ll keep discussions with the QB “private as we move forward.”
Asked about the possibility of trading Cousins, Fontenot said that the team would be willing to do so if all parties can agree.
“We’ll take those things as they come,” he said. “Everyone would have to be good with it. There’s a lot of layers to that.”
Over his six years with the Washington Redskins and six with the Minnesota Vikings, Cousins earned four Pro Bowl nods, never throwing more than 14 interceptions. However, this season, despite missing the final three games, Cousins led the NFL in picks, tossing 16. Over his 14 starts, he picked up 3,508 yards through the air and 18 touchdowns.
Penix Jr., drafted out of the University of Washington, looked steady in his three starts with the Falcons, throwing for 775 yards with three passing touchdowns and three interceptions while leading Atlanta to a 1-2 record.
The Falcons, who finished with an 8-9 record, will be outside of the playoffs looking in for the seventh straight season. The franchise has yet to finish with a winning record since the 2017 season.
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