With the Atlanta Falcons commencing mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, Kirk Cousins will obviously be in attendance. While he has continued to express his desires to be traded, Atlanta has run out of realistic trade partners this offseason. One by one, we have seen teams like the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings and most recently the Pittsburgh Steelers be crossed off during the spring.
However, there is one team that could potentially use a quarterback upgrade this offseason. That would be the Atlanta Falcons' arch rival New Orleans Saints. For so many reasons, Atlanta would never trade Cousins to the Saints. Optically, it would be a terrible look for everyone involved, no matter how well, or poorly, it went for him in New Orleans. These teams have ties, but not this one.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that Cousins will be at Falcons' mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. His preference is still to be traded, preferably to a team where he can be the starter. He may not get his wish. While Cousins was shockingly in attendance for team workouts back in April, he did not report to voluntary OTAs a few weeks ago in the latter part of May. Cousins has long been a team guy, but this situation is making it quite difficult.
The Saints saw Derek Carr retire shortly after the 2025 NFL Draft, but would they even want to trade?
The Falcons expect Kirk Cousins to show up for Atlanta’s mandatory minicamp tomorrow, sources say.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) June 9, 2025
Cousins did not attend the team’s voluntary OTAs in late May, but was present for workouts in April.
His preference is still to be traded to a team where he could start. pic.twitter.com/ehC6TNqMAt
It seems as though the Saints are good with Jake Haener, Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough for now.
Why Atlanta Falcons will never trade Kirk Cousin to New Orleans Saints
I touched on this above when it comes to bad optics. There are reasons why teams rarely make trades in-division with their rivals. They know each team's personnel in the division better than most. If a team agrees to a trade in-division, something has to be up, right? Well, if Cousins plays well for the Saints, the Falcons will look so incredibly foolish again. If he bombs, then the Saints will be laughed at.
Even though Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot came up in Mickey Loomis' front office, he cannot go forward with a trade involving sending Cousins to the Saints. He may be better than New Orleans' current combination of Haener, Rattler and Shough, but for what the Falcons paid to acquire Cousins in free agency two years ago, you cannot be selling him at any discount to your biggest rival.
The other thing at play here is the notion of Fontenot's previous attachment to the Saints. If he were to deal Cousins to New Orleans, more and more people would be convinced that he has been a spy all along in Flowery Branch. That is almost certainly not the case, because there are only 32 of these jobs. Most front-office executives only get one shot to lead a team. Then again, doubt would creep in.
In the end, Cousins needs to accept the fact that he is going to back up Michael Penix Jr. for at least the time being. He may be called upon to start a game or two if Penix were to get hurt. He got hurt in college, so what is to say it will not happen again? The other option is to wait for a team to get really desperate for a quarterback after a major injury. This could be the Saints or any team for that matter.
Unless the Saints were willing to give Atlanta a day-two pick or better, they will never land Cousins.