The Kirk Cousins saga in Atlanta had a ton of twists and turns since he signed with the Falcons a year ago. Things have taken an even more bizarre turn this offseason after reports of the Falcons considering making him their backup behind Michael Penix Jr. surfaced. This would make Cousins the most expensive and overqualified backup quarterback in recent memory.
Even though the Falcons are insisting on keeping Cousins around, teams around the league reportedly don't believe them. While Atlanta may not have much of an incentive to trade him for a late-round pick or release him, they presumably don't want a 36-year-old on the bench all season against his demands. It would be surprising to see the Falcons actually follow through with their plan.
If Cousins is indeed available as the league assumes, one team that makes the most sense is the Cleveland Browns. On Thursday, the Browns restructured Deshaun Watson's contract and opened up an additional $36 million in cap space for 2025. This gives them just over $12 million in cap space heading into free agency. They could very well create even more through contract restructures and cuts.
This could be enough for the Browns to bring in Cousins. The veteran signal-caller has offset language in his contract. Whatever his next salary will be, it will be deducted by what the Falcons owe him. So, there is a benefit for Atlanta to make sure Cousins gets paid as much as he can by his new team.
Cousins already has a relationship with Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was his offensive coordinator in Minnesota. Plus, the Browns are clearly in a win-now mode and should be interested in a short-term deal with Cousins. They will presumably not be able to acquire a better quarterback than Cousins this offseason, and he will likely not get a chance to start in a better situation than Cleveland.
This is a clear win-win scenario for the Browns and Cousins. Whether the Falcons will be willing to play ball, however, remains to be seen.