,”I didn’t forget how to play quarterback,” Kirk Cousins declared last December, his voice tinged with the defiance of a man who’d just been told his Hogwarts letter got lost in the mail. Fast-forward to March 2025, and the Atlanta Falcons’ $180M gamble on Cousins has turned into a Game of Thrones plotline—complete with betrayal, dragons (okay, maybe just falcons), and a throne now occupied by rookie Michael Penix Jr.
As per NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Falcons have two options to handle Cousins. During the discussion on The Rich Eisen Show on March 14, he revealed both of them.
Option 1: Swallow the $100M Pill and let him go? Let’s rip off the Band-Aid: The Falcons paid Cousins $62.5M for 13 starts, 3,508 YDs, 16 INTs, and a QBR that nosedived faster than The Office’s Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy (50.4 by season’s end). Now, they’re staring down a $27.5M guarantee for 2025 and a ticking $10M roster bonus deadline. Cutting him?
That’s like buying a Lamborghini and using it to haul mulch. “If Kirk Cousins is playing in 2026, he’s probably making over $10 million somewhere else. That amount is subject to offsets, so they’re likely not paying it anyway. That means that deadline tomorrow? Not really a big deal to them…,” said NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
And what comes next? Pelissero added, “What is a big deal is what happens next. Are they going to cut him? It doesn’t seem like it—not before that $10 million vests, at least. And honestly, it feels unlikely that they release him at all, because then they’re on the hook for $90 to $100 million while he signs for the veteran minimum somewhere else. That would be a massive financial hit for just one season of action,” channeling Ron Swanson’s disdain for fiscal waste.
Sep 22, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) fumbles a snap against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Option 2: Play QB whisperer and split the cost? But here’s the twist: Cousins holds a no-trade clause. The Falcons could play matchmaker, broker a deal to a QB-needy team (cough Raiders cough), and split his salary like a shared Netflix account. “If you want to start, this is your shot, but you have to waive your no-trade clause.” Pelissero quipped, imagining Atlanta’s pitch. Problem is, Cousins’s young family is rooted in Georgia.
Uprooting midseason? That’s harder than explaining Inception to a golden retriever. Pelissero added, “The alternative is working with Cousins on a trade. He has a no-trade clause, so they’d have to sell him on a destination. If this drags out and there are only a couple of starting jobs left, the Falcons could go to him… Then, they’d either split his salary with the new team or have the new team take on the full financial burden. Either way, Cousins would still get paid.” Yet there’s beauty in the mess.
Picture Cousins mentoring Penix, their bond forged in suburban carpools and post-practice prayers. Or Freddie Falcon, the mascot since ’72, waving a foam finger as fans chant ‘Rise Up’ beneath Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s retractable halo. This isn’t just football—it’s Southern Gothic drama with a side of sweet tea.
Terry Fontenot’s $10M chess move: Bluff or Cousins’s brilliance?
Enter GM Terry Fontenot, the NFL’s answer to Ocean’s 11’s Danny Ocean. His playbook? Keep Cousins as the NFL’s priciest backup ($40M cap hit in 2025) while Penix learns the ropes. “We’re comfortable with the funds allocated,” shrugged Fontenot at the Combine, sounding like a man who’d just ordered dessert after a five-course meal. Critics call it a bluff—“Teams thought they’d cut him!”—but Fontenot’s playing 4D chess. By holding Cousins past the March 17 deadline, he turns him into trade bait juicier than a Georgia peach once QB carousels stop spinning.
Cameron Wolfe gave a more nuanced take: “Talking to teams around the league, they thought that this was just a bluff, that at some point, Kirk Cousins would be released. They would allow him to go where he is because he doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but you gotta look at it from the Falcons’ perspective. They paid a lot of money for Kirk Cousins last year.” Juicy right.
He didn’t stop there. Wolfe further added, “He met with the owner, Arthur Blank, told them, I wanna play, but the Falcons also have to do what’s best for themselves. They have a franchise quarterback. Michael Penix’s a guy who’s not gonna cost a lot of money. And so an extra $10,000,000 that’s due Sunday, that’s a tip in the bucket for what they’ve already paid him.” The math’s brutal but logical: Eating $65M in dead cap to release Cousins would make the Falcons the league’s laughingstock.
Instead, they’re banking on desperation. Imagine Week 4: The Broncos lose Bo Nix to injury, panic, and trade a third-rounder for Cousins. Suddenly, Fontenot’s a genius—or at least less of a Schitt’s Creek punchline and Wolfe concluded with “And so we may be talking Kirk Cousins all the way up until the draft…even through the draft, and the Falcons are okay with that.”
Falcons in no rush to get rid of Kirk Cousins — even w/ $10M bonus due Sunday — there’s good reason why he still has value to Atlanta.
More for @nflnetwork The Insiders: pic.twitter.com/4FRTpH6KdH
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) March 15, 2025
Atlanta’s mantra isn’t just a slogan—it’s a survival tactic. From the “Grits Blitz” defense of the ’70s to the heartbreak of 28-3, this franchise thrives on chaos. Cousins’ saga fits right in. Remember 2023’s tampering scandal? He accidentally texted Falcons staff pre-free agency like a teen sliding into DMs, costing the team a fifth-round pick. Now, he’s the human embodiment of a “Wyd?” meme.
Epilogue: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
So where does this end? Maybe Cousins stays, morphing into Atlanta’s Alex Moran—the ultimate clipboard hero. Maybe he’s traded to Rams, where Davante Adams awaits like a kid on Christmas. Either way, Fontenot’s gamble hinges on patience. As Game of Thrones taught us: “Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder.” And in the NFC South, the Falcons are climbing—one $10M rung at a time.
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