A number of NFL teams are going to have to rely on their backup quarterbacks in Week 3, but don’t expect the Atlanta Falcons to entertain trade offers for their own backup, Kirk Cousins, at the moment.
“So I reached out to some people, and I don’t get the sense that Atlanta’s moving Cousins right now,” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported during Monday’s Scoop City podcast (11:47 mark).
Injuries are certainly piling up at the quarterback position around the NFL:
Whether Cousins would even be a meaningful upgrade over any of those players at this stage in his career is another question entirely. The 37-year-old threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in 14 games last season, taking 28 sacks and completing 66.9 percent of his passes.
In a five-game stretch between Nov. 10 and Dec. 16, Cousins was absolutely dreadful, throwing just one touchdown pass to nine interceptions. The Falcons were 1-4 in those contests and went from leading the NFC South at 6-3 to a .500 record and trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Cousins was benched for rookie Michael Penix Jr. after that five-game stretch and the Falcons ultimately missed the playoffs, closing the season with a pair of overtime losses.
Atlanta would have eaten $65 million in dead money had it released Cousins this offseason, either counting entirely against its books in 2025 or as $40 million in 2025 and $25 million in 2026 had he released with a post-June 1 designation.
Trading him would have left them on the hook for $37.5 million in remaining proration (and it’s likely they would have needed to eat some salary as well in a deal). Instead, the Falcons decided to keep him on the books as Penix’s backup, and for now it appears they plan to maintain that current setup.
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