Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons quarterback, reportedly covered up his injury in order to avoid being benched and replaced by rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. for good. Towards the end of the 2024 NFL seasons, the Falcons decided to bench Cousins and bring in rookie Penix for a test drive.
While nothing of this sort has been confirmed by Kirk Cousins or the Atlanta Falcons team, Kurt Benkert, former Green Bay Packers quarterback discussed this through a tweet on his X account. According to Benkert, Cousins may have continued to bite his teeth and play through his injury/injuries.
“It’s quite possible that Kirk Cousins lied about his injury and tried to gut it through so he didn’t get his job taken by a rookie.” Kurt Benkert tweeted through his X account.
It’s quite possible that Kirk Cousins lied about his injury and tried to gut it through so he didn’t get his job taken by a rookie.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) February 5, 2025
With Kirk Cousins leading them through most of the season as quarterback, the Atlanta Falcons finished the season ranked second in the NFC South with eight wins and nine defeats. In their final game of the season, the Falcons played against the Carolina Panthers and lost in overtime with a final score of 44-38. In that game, QB Michael Penix Jr. managed to score two touchdowns, after completing 21 passes out of 38 attempts for 312 yards.
Kirk Cousins was the 102nd pick in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft and was selected by the Washington Redskins. Cousins started playing for the Atlanta Falcons in the previous season and threw for a total of 3,508 yards, scoring 18 touchdowns, while managing 16 interceptions.
Kirk Cousins Admits To Covering Up Injuries
Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins has actually admitted to covering up his injuries in a recent episode of ‘Good Morning Football’. Cousins remarked that he injured his right shoulder and right elbow in the NFL Week 10 game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.
While many viewers of the game came out on social media to question Cousins’ health status, neither the team nor the quarterback himself came out to comment on the same. In response to Cousins’ admission of his injury in Week 10, NFL fans took to social media and gave varying responses.
While some mentioned that they definitely knew that the quarterback was indeed injured, others went on to criticize the team management for continuing to play him. In fact, after Cousins apparently injured himself, the Falcons lost the game against the Saints, and continued to lose three games in a row, against the Broncos, the Chargers and the Vikings.
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Ernest also manages a YouTube account called Sports On Air with over 103 thousand subscribers. The channel contains interviews predominantly from the Philippine Basketball Association. They can be reached at sportsonairph@gmail.com.
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