It’s Happening for Kirk Cousins
In the 2024 offseason, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins decided to leave the Twin Cities after six seasons to join the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons quickly turned around to draft his successor, while the Vikings enjoyed a wonderful season of Sam Darnold captaining the ship.
It’s Happening for Kirk Cousins
Cousins was benched for Michael Penix Jr. late in the 2024 campaign, and the Vikings haven’t had the desired success with J.J. McCarthy. Reports have suggested that Cousins appreciated Atlanta’s commitment, while the Vikings indicated that a rookie would join him in the QB room.
Ironically, Cousins would’ve started the 23 games McCarthy has missed due to injury.
On Sunday, he’ll finally return to the starting lineup, it looks like.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi wrote Saturday morning, “Kirk Cousins is ‘highly likely’ to be the Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday morning.”
Cousins has not started since last year’s return to Minnesota, when he watched Darnold throw for five touchdowns. The last time he entered a game was in Week 3, when the Falcons lost in blowout fashion against the Panthers. He completed five of seven passes for 29 yards.
Penix has been an up-and-down passer, which is expected for a guy with only nine quarterback starts. It’s not a performance-related benching, however. The young passer is injured.
Raimondi noted, “Michael Penix Jr., the team’s starter, suffered a bone bruise in his left knee in last week’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Penix was limited in practice the last two days and was listed Friday as questionable for Sunday’s game.”
The Falcons sit in third place of the NFC South with a 3-3 record, behind the Buccaneers at 5-2 and the 4-3 Panthers.
Funny but true: Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of Cousins’ legendary “You like that?” game against the Buccaneers.
More from Raimondi, “Cousins, 37, helped get the Falcons off to a 6-3 start last season before he struggled with nine interceptions during a five-game stretch after injuring his right elbow and shoulder in Week 10. Cousins was benched in favor of Penix, then a rookie, in Week 16 last season.”
The passer was looking like his old self after shaking off the rust for a few weeks. Then, he fell off a cliff, and the turnover-filled stretch ended with him on the bench.
“Penix has gone 4-5 as a starter, including the Falcons’ 3-3 record this season. The second-year quarterback hasn’t quite find his rhythm yet in the league. Penix has completed 61% of his passes this season for 1,409 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. He has a 47.7 QBR, the 22nd best number in the league,” Raimondi concluded.
Cousins has been the subject of trade rumors all year, but the Falcons haven’t budged. With the trade deadline approaching, he has a prime opportunity to show the league that he can still play and could save someone’s season.
Of course, the Vikings have popped up in those theories, due to McCarthy’s injuries and the underwhelming first two outings from the 22-year-old.
At this point, the Vikings are focused on getting the best out of their sophomore, and Thursday’s defeat showed that the QB position is far from the only issue on the team.
Cousins, 37, is expected to face the Dolphins on Sunday, a team that ranks dead last in defensive passing DVOA and 31st in overall defensive DVOA. Don’t be too surprised if he’s looking good out there.
The veteran remains third in passing yards and second in passing touchdowns in Vikings franchise history, and unless Daunte Culpepper is planning on taking snaps, that won’t change in the near future.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.