Kirk Cousins quietly proves the Vikings right with an unnecessary distraction

The Atlanta Falcons made a costly investment in Kirk Cousins last offseason, dolling out $180 million (with $100 million guaranteed) to the 36-year-old coming off of an Achilles injury. The results were subpar. He wasn't operating at full strength for much of the season, but Cousins led the NFL in interceptions and fumbles in just 13 starts. It could not have gone worse.

Meanwhile, his former team won 14 games behind the tremendous success of a resurgent Sam Darnold. That did not lead to a long-term partnership with Darnold, but it did allow the Minnesota Vikings to compete in a hellish division while waiting on their first-round pick, J.J. McCarthy. Now, with Darnold in Seattle, McCarthy is in position to lead the Vikings offense for the foreseeable future.

The Vikings moved on just fine. The Falcons benched their $100 million quarterback midseason for Michael Penix Jr., whose selection in the 2024 NFL Draft turned heads and let to immediate friction between Cousins and the organization. And now that friction will play out on television screens across the country, with cameras in the building to document it all for Netflix's Quarterback. Cousins will be on the show for a second straight season.

Kirk Cousins will air out Falcons dirty laundry in season two of Netflix's Quarterback show

This is incredibly bad luck for the Falcons. For Cousins. Really for everyone except Netflix and drama fiends with a Netflix account. Normally if you're a big TV studio looking to document three quarterbacks in a 30-team league, you don't want to get stuck with the guy who stinks it up and gets benched. But with Cousins, given his significant stature in the league, this is a gold mine. We will get to watch Atlanta pull out the rug from under Cousins in real time.

There is simply no way the Falcons emerge from this TV show looking good. Cousins will have a say in how the show gets cut. How he is portrayed relative to his employer. That's not to say Cousins will come out of it looking like a saint — we all remember Joe Schoen fumbling the Saquon Barkley negotiations on Hard Knocks — but odds are this is something like a televised bloodbath, with Cousins giving frank and honest opinions on his benching that otherwise would not see the light of day.

It's made even more awkward by the fact that Cousins is still on the Falcons roster. If this show gets a little too into the weeds, that may even force Atlanta's hand on the trade front. Not only is Penix facing the weight of expectations as a second-year starting quarterback; his uber-expensive backup will be on TV screens across the country bemoaning Atlanta's decision to start Penix. At least, it feels that way. I somehow doubt the show will be about Cousins handling everything with grace and embracing Penix as the face of Atlanta football.

The Vikings look genius for letting Kirk Cousins walk when they did

Just imagine if Minnesota decided to pony up last summer and sign Cousins to a contract in that same ballpark of $100 million guaranteed. There's a nonzero chance Minnesota doesn't even invest in J.J. McCarthy in that situation. Sam Darnold probably doesn't sign on to back up a proven entity like Cousins. Minnesota would be stuck with a rusty, struggling veteran on an exorbitant contract — with Netflix cameras there to capture it all.

Worst case, the Vikings still draft McCarthy and are stuck with Kevin O'Connell pondering Cousins' future as McCarthy deals with the weight of such a hefty distraction. Even hurt, the last thing McCarthy needed last season was an endless stream of speculation regarding his ability to step up and play right away. Minnesota dealt with plenty of that with Sam Darnold, but the team was winning games. I'm not sure the Vikings put 14 W's on the board with 2024 Kirk Cousins.