Kirk Cousins seemed to be again in peak kind because the NFL calendar turned to October.
The 36-year-old quarterback, not fairly one 12 months faraway from surgical procedure to restore a torn Achilles tendon, handed for 509 yards and 4 touchdowns within the Atlanta Falcons’ Week 5 time beyond regulation victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As not too long ago as 5 weeks in the past, Cousins was coming off a two-game stretch during which he tossed seven landing passes with no interceptions whereas averaging 9.4 yards per try.
He was the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week twice in October.
It’s been a catastrophe for Cousins ever since. The Falcons benched him Tuesday after a five-game stretch of futility that includes 9 interceptions, one landing cross and a single victory, 15-9 over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night time. That was it for Cousins.
The chart beneath exhibits Cousins’ EPA in his remaining 14 begins with the Minnesota Vikings in comparison with his first 14 with Atlanta, together with 4 adverse outings within the final 5 video games.
We know what’s subsequent for the Falcons. Rookie first-round draft alternative Michael Penix Jr. turns into their beginning quarterback.
We don’t but know what the longer term holds for Cousins. If he’s reached the top as a viable starter, there isn’t a lot to speak about. But with quarterback demand exceeding provide, and with Cousins having produced at instances even throughout this disappointing season, the probabilities are intriguing.
Cousins has a no-trade clause in his contract. His $27.5 million wage subsequent season is assured, with an extra $10 million in 2026 bonus cash turning into assured in March.
It’s tough to ascertain one other group buying Cousins and that contract from the Falcons by commerce. But if Cousins determined after the season he wished out, the Falcons might launch him with a post-June 1 designation, which might assist them mitigate the salary-cap influence. That’s simpler to ascertain.
GO DEEPER
Raheem Morris: Falcons did not anticipate to make QB change this season
Is Cousins completed?
Vinny Testaverde was 35 when he suffered a torn Achilles in 1999. He returned to play eight extra seasons, together with three as a full-time starter. The New York Jets had a 19-13 file with Testaverde within the lineup over the 2 seasons instantly after the harm (Testaverde led the NFL in cross makes an attempt and interceptions in 2000, his first 12 months again).
Dan Marino was in his age-32 season when he suffered a torn Achilles in 1993. He went to the Pro Bowl in every of the primary two seasons after the harm and began 86 regular-season video games after the harm.
Cousins and 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers have each appeared diminished from a mobility standpoint this season after coming back from Achilles tendon surgical procedure.
Aaron Rodgers mentioned he thinks Kirk Cousins can be higher subsequent 12 months since he’ll be additional away from his Achilles harm and feels he has plenty of good years left in him.
Rodgers, requested if he’ll be higher subsequent 12 months too for a similar motive: “It’s doable. I is likely to be on the seaside…
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) December 18, 2024
Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks resembling Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, John Elway, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees and Warren Moon produced robust seasons previous Cousins’ present age, together with once they had been coming off accidents (Manning had his fourth neck surgical procedure at age 35) or hadn’t performed as nicely not too long ago (Warner with the Giants).
The historical past isn’t as memorable for mid-tier quarterbacks coming off higher-interception seasons just like the one Cousins produced for the Falcons.
Matt Hasselbeck was by no means a full-time starter once more after tossing 18 landing passes with 14 interceptions for the Titans in 2011, his age-36 season. The similar was true for Chris Chandler after he had 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for the Falcons in 2001, his age-36 season.
Russell Wilson 2.0
The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting nice worth from Wilson whereas Wilson’s former group, the Denver Broncos, picks up many of the tab.
An analogous state of affairs might unfold with Cousins.
The Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year, $242 million extension in September 2022. They launched him a 12 months and a half later, despite the fact that they nonetheless needed to pay Wilson his $39 million wage this season.
Wilson turned free to signal with any group, with no matter wage he earned offsetting the $39 million he’s getting from Denver. This allowed the Steelers to signal Wilson on a one-year deal well worth the veteran minimal, $1.2 million.
Wilson wasn’t as cell as he’d been throughout his prime years. There had been no ensures he would recapture previous kind. But at that discounted worth, what did the Steelers need to lose?
Wilson has upgraded the place for the Steelers, rising as their main candidate to begin subsequent season if the edges can agree on a contract.
GO DEEPER
Russell Wilson is making his case for a Steelers extension. What would possibly it seem like?
Cousins is three months older than Wilson and may very well be bodily stronger subsequent season than he’s proper now.
Why not the Browns?
The Cleveland Browns have watched the Wilson experiment work nicely for his or her AFC North rival in Pittsburgh.
While the Browns may very well be caught with Deshaun Watson and his contract for an additional 12 months and even two, they clearly want alternate options.
Re-signing Jameis Winston appeared extra interesting a number of weeks in the past, however Cleveland benched him this week after Winston struggled. The Browns, whereas improved on offense after Winston changed the injured Watson within the lineup, ranked thirty second in EPA per play throughout every quarterback’s seven-game beginning stretches, per TruMedia.
GO DEEPER
The Jameis Winston-led Browns offense is (virtually) as unhealthy because it was with Deshaun Watson
Cleveland might choose a quarterback within the 2025 draft whereas bringing in Cousins on a deal much like the one Wilson signed with Pittsburgh.
The match may very well be supreme. Cousins and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski overlapped on the Vikings in 2018 and 2019, when Cousins was the beginning quarterback and Stefanski was quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator. That association labored nicely sufficient for the Browns to rent Stefanski as their coach in 2020. Cleveland prolonged Stefanski’s contract earlier than this season.
The Browns are at present slotted seventh within the draft order. They might choose a quarterback early or wait till later. Whatever the case, Cousins’ relationship with Stefanski might assist him belief the Browns to be extra simple with him than the Falcons had been once they surprisingly chosen Penix weeks after signing Cousins.
At this stage, Cousins wouldn’t command a assured long-term beginning job, anyway.
Wilson competed with Justin Fields by way of the offseason earlier than rising because the starter. Cousins would possibly have to compete as nicely. He’d have extra time to get stronger in his second 12 months faraway from surgical procedure.
The play-action and under-center techniques Stefanski prefers might take strain off Cousins after the Falcons, for no matter motive, didn’t use both a lot with him this season.
The chart beneath exhibits the play-action and under-center charges on first and second down for Cousins’ groups since he joined the Vikings in 2018. The Falcons rank final in play-action fee and twenty eighth in under-center fee on early downs this season, a significant departure from Cousins’ tenure in Minnesota, regardless of Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s background with the Los Angeles Rams, who additionally favor these techniques.
Was Cousins too restricted bodily to execute the under-center recreation with its bootlegs and fast actions on a down-to-down foundation?
For all Cousins’ struggles of late, his EPA per cross play by way of 14 video games this season (0.5) would rank fourth amongst all Browns starters since 2000 (min. 10 begins), per TruMedia.
Would different choices enchantment?
Signing a minimum-salary take care of one other group would imply no new cash for Cousins.
Without monetary incentives within the brief time period, Cousins would possibly prioritize different elements. Where might he begin? Where might he win? Where would he already know the offense? Where would he discover coaches he trusts? Where would he and his household wish to stay?
Only Cousins can resolve methods to reply these questions, how a lot to weigh every and what else would possibly matter to him.
Some potentialities past Cleveland:
• The worth to re-sign Wilson in Pittsburgh might flip Cousins right into a lower-cost different for the Steelers. Under this state of affairs, the Broncos and Falcons could be paying greater than $75 million over a two-year interval to finance the Steelers’ veteran quarterbacks.
• The New York Giants and New York Jets may wish quarterbacks. Would Cousins actually wish to have interaction these groups in that market at this stage of his profession? A less-mobile Cousins taking part in behind these groups’ offensive traces may very well be disastrous. What will the teaching conditions there seem like?
• The Las Vegas Raiders enter Week 16 first within the 2025 draft order, with the Giants slotted second.
Cousins might function a beautiful bridge to a extremely drafted QB, however after what he simply skilled with the Falcons, who didn’t inform Cousins they would choose Penix till they had been on the clock, going to a rebuilding group virtually sure to pick a quarterback among the many prime 5 picks might shorten his runway sufficiently to make the job much less interesting.
• The Tennessee Titans simply benched Will Levis, signaling they’ll be out there for quarterback assist. They’re sixth within the 2025 draft order now. They don’t appear to be an growing old Cousins away from relevance.
• The San Francisco 49ers had been excited about signing Cousins for years, however the timing was by no means proper. Would they contemplate bringing in Cousins if Brock Purdy faltered badly down the stretch or suffered an harm?
Would the 49ers contemplate Cousins as a veteran backup/insurance coverage coverage as a part of a technique to make one final Super Bowl run with their present core? Would this enchantment to Cousins within the absence of a beautiful beginning job? Or would possibly he simply want to stick with the Falcons?
A doable timeline
The Falcons drafted Cousins’ alternative earlier than Cousins performed a single down for the group. The resolution to make use of a top-10 decide on Penix so shortly after signing Cousins to a big-money deal caught the NFL off-guard. Did Atlanta have motive to suppose Cousins won’t maintain up bodily or recapture previous kind?
“I actually like Penix, but when you will draft him, why would you not have taken Justin Fields from Chicago or signed Russell Wilson after which drafted Penix?” an exec from one other group mentioned earlier than the season. “No one would fault you for that. They would have been significantly better off with cash invested elsewhere. And the factor about Penix is, he is able to play now. He isn’t the rookie QB that should wait.”
Cousins’ four-year, $160 million take care of the Falcons is successfully a two-year deal for $100 million. The Falcons would possibly wish to maintain Cousins as insurance coverage for Penix, whose medical historical past on the University of Washington was regarding for some groups. Cousins, by all accounts, wished to remain in Atlanta for the long term.
There’s no want for anybody to decide proper now.
Free company is scheduled to start March 12 after a two-day negotiating interval. Another $10 million in Cousins’ contract turns into assured March 16. That may very well be a set off date.
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
The story of the best gamers in NFL historical past. In 100 riveting profiles, prime soccer writers justify their choices and uncover the historical past of the NFL within the course of.
The story of the best gamers in NFL historical past.
Buy
