One and done. It seems to be the case when it comes to Kirk Cousins' time with the Atlanta Falcons. Cousins signed a four-year deal worth $180 million to suit up for the Dirty Birds coming off a major Achilles injury. While Cousins played well at times in the first half of the season, a bum shoulder had him devolve into a pumpkin after Halloween. Atlanta turned to Michael Penix Jr. at the end of the year.
Now that the Falcons are full-steam ahead when it comes to Penix, where will Cousins end up? Odds are he will be released by the team before the start of the new league year. They are on the hook for quite a bit of money, but swiftly moving off him will prevent Atlanta from paying a $10 million roster bonus in a little less than a month from now. There is one AFC team could make a lot of sense for him.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has Cousins tied to a team who once had interest in him in the New York Jets.
“You know, the New York Jets, once upon a time, wanted to sign Cousins. He’s going to be one of the best options, recovered from his Achilles tear, and [has] a [$10 million] roster bonus due in March. So, that’s sort of an artificial deadline for him to find a new team that should shake out."
New York was the other team Cousins had strong ties to upon leaving Washington. He ended up signing with the Minnesota Vikings, where Cousins had arguably the best six-year run of his NFL career. New York has a new regime in town, one that just pivoted off an older quarterback with an Achilles injury on his resume in Aaron Rodgers. I like Justin Fields more here, but I get Cousins, too.
Cousins may play better next year for someone than he did down the stretch, or this could be it...
New York Jets are tied to Kirk Cousins in NFL free agency this offseason
From a competitive standpoint, Cousins could serve as the ideal bridge to help the Jets reach great heights under their new regime. While it remains to be seen how good of a general manager Darren Mougey will be, I am quite bullish on how good of a head coach Aaron Glenn will be back in New York. This is a franchise the former Pro Bowl defensive back had some of his best years in the mid-1990s.
With the Jets picking at No. 7, they could conceivably take a quarterback like the Falcons did in Penix. However, this is not expected to be one of the better quarterback drafts in recent memory. It will be better than the god awful monstrosity that was the 2022 class. While I expect it will be a bit more fruitful than the lackluster 2021 class, I doubt it will hold a candle to either the 2023 or 2024 classes.
Overall, it really comes down to what the new administration values the most at quarterback. Is it mobility? It is upside? It is veteran leadership? All I know is it will not be Rodgers, nor will it be free-agent darling Sam Darnold. Although Cousins is not going to see ghosts at MetLife, I still find it hard to think he will be anything more than a starter for the next year or two if he were to play for New York.
While there are worse landing spots to be had, the Jets might be too pressure-packed for Cousins.