The Kirk Cousins era seemed to end when the Atlanta Falcons decided to bench him last December. But as the offseason has progressed, Cousins remains on the roster and is one of the biggest storylines for entering this weekend's NFL Draft.
The Falcons had their chance to release Cousins before a 2026 roster bonus for $10 million kicked in last March, but they held out for a better offer. Reports of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns and even Cousins’s former team, the Minnesota Vikings, being interested have added another layer to the drama and it feels like a question of when it will happen.
With the hours ticking away before the start of the draft, new developments have popped up in Cousins’s situation and it could be the strongest report yet that finally gets him out of Atlanta.
NFL General Manager Guarantees Falcons Will Trade Kirk Cousins
Outkick’s Armando Salguero dug into the Cousins rumors before the draft and found the strongest news yet with an anonymous NFL general manager guaranteeing that Cousins will be traded in the near future.
“They’ve played all you people,” the anonymous GM said. “They’re trading him. It’s gonna happen, guaranteed. They’ve been talking to a bunch of teams. Only question is when they come back to earth and do it.”
This weekend’s draft will be a pivotal data point for teams interested in trading for Cousins. Miami’s Cam Ward is expected to go to the Tennessee Titans with the No. 1 overall pick. But the rest of the quarterback class is shaky even though Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Jaxon Dart of Ole Miss could go in the first round on Thursday night.
If quarterback-needy teams can’t get the prospect they want, they could pivot to the trade market where Cousins is the Belle of the Ball. Cousins has $37.5 million in guarantees over the next two seasons and has clogged up the Falcons’ salary cap situation as they’ve waited for a trade partner.
While the Falcons could have saved $2.5 million by trading Cousins before June 1, they haven’t made a deal as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported they are waiting for a team willing to take on at least $20 million of the guaranteed money. (Although Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot denied the report when talking to reporters earlier this week.)
A team may not be willing to do that now but they may blink when another option to upgrade has passed. Will that be enough for Fontenot to move on from his mistake and forward with Michael Penix Jr.? Segundo’s report makes it seem like that’s the case and it could lead to a conclusion either draft or shortly after its conclusion.