Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has already lost his spot as the team’s top option under center. According to a report from ESPN, it won’t be much longer until he is not with the Falcons organization at all.
Executives around the league reportedly believe that the Falcons will not be able to find any trade partners for Cousins this coming offseason, and that they will instead be forced to release him. Cousins is due a $10 million roster bonus for 2026 that becomes guaranteed on March 17, 2025, and the Falcons are expected to part ways with him before that date. If that comes to fruition, Cousins will have lasted just one year on the four-year, $180 million contract he signed with Atlanta this past offseason.
The same report, however, stated that a Falcons executive said it was too early to determine whether the team would release Cousins. CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones also noted that while the leaguewide expectation is indeed that Cousins will get cut, sources insisted that the team has options to keep him due to their depth and salary-cap situation. (The Falcons would have to absorb a dead-money cap hit of $65 million to release Cousins outright or $40 million to designate him a post-June 1 release.)
Obviously, the Falcons are incentivized to deny any reports that they will release Cousins outright. It’s far better for them if they can find a team willing to trade for him and absorb some of the salary-cap blow, and get at least some kind of asset in return for his services. Given the structure of his contract, though, that could prove difficult.
Cousins has base salaries of $27.5 million, $35 million and $35 million on the books for 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively. He also has the aforementioned $10 million roster bonus for 2026 and another for 2027, each of which become guaranteed in the prior year. Given that Cousins played poorly enough this season to be benched in favor of rookie Michael Penix, there do not figure to be many suitors for that type of deal.
We saw the same type of thing in action last offseason with Russell Wilson, who ended up being released by the Broncos and then signing with the Steelers for the veteran’s minimum. We could see something similar happen with Cousins — even after this stretch of poor play that ended with his losing the starting gig.
