The Full Cost of the Kirk Cousins Debacle in Atlanta
The Atlanta Falcons made a major error last offseason.
Kirk Cousins appeared to be the best passer available — note: appeared — leading to a gigantic deal that tipped the scales at $180 million across four years. Cousins has always been a good quarterback but an elite contract negotiator, so the numbers made a lot of sense (especially since Cousins has family in the area, a very reasonable factor in his decision-making for whether to accept the Falcons’ deal). Safe to say, though, that the Falcons wish they had a time machine so they could retake that free agency test.
The Kirk Cousins Debacle was Costly
Trading Mr. Cousins is very unlikely. Who wants to inherit that contract? Much likelier is a situation where he gets axed and then finds a team in free agency.
When the benching first occurred, Tom Pelissero clarified where things were heading: “If Cousins remains on the Atlanta roster as of March 16, another $10M in 2026 would become fully guaranteed — not impossible, but practically unfathomable after the decision today.”
Keep in mind, as well, that Pelissero dug into the cap implications of a cut. Moving on before June 1st means taking on a $65 million dead cap charge. Pushing things to a post-June 1 cut would involve $40 million in dead money for 2025 and then $25 million in dead money for 2026.
Just staggering stuff. All of the sudden, the cap benefit of having a young, highly-drafted passer — No. 8 pick Michael Penix Jr. — basically evaporates for several years.
Plus, the Falcons were found guilty of tampering to acquire Mr. Cousins in the first place. That’s right, there was the lost draft capital for breaking the NFL’s rules when it comes to how they negotiated that misguided deal.
Back in June of 2024, ESPN’s social media account passed along the details of the penalty: “Breaking: The NFL ruled the Falcons had improper contact with Kirk Cousins, Darnell Mooney and Charlie Woerner prior to the start of the 2024 League Year. Atlanta will forfeit its original 2025 fifth-round draft pick and pay a fine of $250,000, while GM Terry Fontenot has been fined $50,000.”
So, we’re talking about losing major financial freedom for Atlanta’s salary cap, a lost draft pick, and some fines for the franchise. Not great.
One could then look to the season itself and how the passer played. Initially, Kirk Cousins was doing good things, leading his Falcons to a very respectable 6-3 record. But then the wheels fell off.
Cousins was tossing interceptions aplenty while failing to throw for touchdowns. In his final five games as the Falcons’ starter, Cousins threw 9 interceptions alongside just a single touchdown. Keep in mind that a pair of those picks came against the Vikings in a 42-21 win for Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium, an outcome that must have stung Cousins.
Kirk Cousins’ season finished with a perfectly pedestrian 7-7 record behind completing 66.9% of his passes for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. His PFF grade came in at 74.3, the worst mark since 2017.
Atlanta is working with (roughly) negative $5 million in cap space. Kirk Cousins, if he sticks around, will account for $40 million on the Falcons’ budget, but a simple cut would actually make the cap pain worse (as we discussed up top). The Falcons have a mess to clean up.
Don’t outright dismiss the possibility of Mr. Cousins returning to the Vikings.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
