The Atlanta Falcons made the head scratching call to bench Kirk Cousins going forward. In his place will be rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. It will be interesting to see how the team rallies around the new signal caller and if he is able to make a push to win the NFC South.
Atlanta’s decision to bench Cousins is proving costly.
“This Isn’t Pretty” Falcons-Kirk Cousins Situation Just Got A Lot Worse (Report)
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter:
Kirk Cousins‘ divorce from the Falcons is expected to be finalized before his $10 million roster bonus is due March 17, with executives across the NFL fully expecting Atlanta to release him by then.
The split between Cousins and the Falcons is inevitable at this point, according to multiple sources.
Front office executives observing the situation have pointed out that, due to the no-trade clause in Cousins’ contract, he now has all the leverage. And nobody believes he will do any favors for a Falcons team that surprised him on draft night by selecting another quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., in the first round, then benched him this week in favor of the rookie.
Thus there now is a widespread expectation across the league that the Falcons will not be able to trade Cousins and will have to release him before March 17, when his $10 million roster bonus for the 2026 season comes due. There is no need for the Falcons to absorb any more costs for a quarterback whom they have paid $90 million for 14 games.
Here is a look at Cousins’ stats this season:
| Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Team | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Lng | Sk | Yds | Att | Yds | TD | Lng | Fmb | ||||||||||||
| 2024-12-16 | ATL | @ | LVR | W 15-9 | 11 | 17 | 64.7 | 112 | 1 | 5.9 | 1 | 5.9 | 30 | 6.6 | 5.12 | 10.2 | 78.6 | 3 | 19 | 15.00 | 4.65 | 3.40 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 2024-12-08 | ATL | @ | MIN | L 21-42 | 23 | 37 | 62.2 | 344 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 5.4 | 49 | 9.3 | 6.86 | 15.0 | 70.1 | 1 | 6 | 2.63 | 8.89 | 6.53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2024-12-01 | ATL | LAC | L 13-17 | 24 | 39 | 61.5 | 245 | 0 | 0.0 | 4 | 10.3 | 60 | 6.3 | 1.67 | 10.2 | 40.0 | 1 | 11 | 2.50 | 5.85 | 1.35 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.0 | 1 | |
| 2024-11-17 | ATL | @ | DEN | L 6-38 | 18 | 27 | 66.7 | 173 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 3.7 | 26 | 6.4 | 4.74 | 9.6 | 68.9 | 3 | 21 | 10.00 | 5.07 | 3.57 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 |
| 2024-11-10 | ATL | @ | NOR | L 17-20 | 23 | 38 | 60.5 | 306 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2.6 | 33 | 8.1 | 6.87 | 13.3 | 75.1 | 3 | 19 | 7.32 | 7.00 | 5.90 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2024-11-03 | ATL | DAL | W 27-21 | 19 | 24 | 79.2 | 222 | 3 | 12.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 36 | 9.3 | 11.75 | 11.7 | 144.8 | 2 | 12 | 7.69 | 8.08 | 10.38 | 4 | -11 | 0 | 0 | -2.8 | 2 | |
| 2024-10-27 | ATL | @ | TAM | W 31-26 | 23 | 29 | 79.3 | 276 | 4 | 13.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 49 | 9.5 | 12.28 | 12.0 | 145.9 | 2 | 11 | 6.45 | 8.55 | 11.13 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 13 | 5.3 | 1 |
| 2024-10-20 | ATL | SEA | L 14-34 | 24 | 35 | 68.6 | 232 | 1 | 2.9 | 2 | 5.7 | 26 | 6.6 | 4.63 | 9.7 | 72.6 | 3 | 32 | 7.89 | 5.26 | 3.42 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | -1.0 | 1 | |
| 2024-10-13 | ATL | @ | CAR | W 38-20 | 19 | 30 | 63.3 | 225 | 1 | 3.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 52 | 7.5 | 8.17 | 11.8 | 97.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 7.50 | 8.17 | 4 | -5 | 0 | 0 | -1.3 | 0 |
| 2024-10-03 | ATL | TAM | W 36-30 (OT) | 42 | 58 | 72.4 | 509 | 4 | 6.9 | 1 | 1.7 | 45 | 8.8 | 9.38 | 12.1 | 114.8 | 4 | 32 | 6.45 | 7.69 | 8.26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2024-09-29 | ATL | NOR | W 26-24 | 21 | 35 | 60.0 | 238 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2.9 | 36 | 6.8 | 5.51 | 11.3 | 68.5 | 1 | 11 | 2.78 | 6.31 | 5.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2024-09-22 | ATL | KAN | L 17-22 | 20 | 29 | 69.0 | 230 | 1 | 3.4 | 1 | 3.4 | 50 | 7.9 | 7.07 | 11.5 | 89.7 | 2 | 1 | 6.45 | 7.39 | 6.58 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | -1.0 | 2 | |
| 2024-09-16 | ATL | @ | PHI | W 22-21 | 20 | 29 | 69.0 | 241 | 2 | 6.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 41 | 8.3 | 9.69 | 12.1 | 117.2 | 1 | 8 | 3.33 | 7.77 | 9.10 | 4 | -1 | 0 | 1 | -0.3 | 1 |
| 2024-09-08 | ATL | PIT | L 10-18 | 16 | 26 | 61.5 | 155 | 1 | 3.8 | 2 | 7.7 | 20 | 6.0 | 3.27 | 9.7 | 59.0 | 2 | 18 | 7.14 | 4.89 | 2.39 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | |
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