Kirk Cousins decided to leave the Minnesota Vikings this off season to start a new journey with the Atlanta Falcons. Weeks after he signed with his new team, he watched the Falcons shock the world and take a quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick of the draft.
As it turns out, what the Falcons did, was exactly the reason that Cousins left the Vikings in the first place.
Atlanta Falcons Shocked The NFL World With First Pick
The Falcons pick was by far the shock of the first round of the draft as no one could figure out why the team would take a quarterback so high after paying Cousins so much money weeks earlier. Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer revealed that Cousins had left his former team for this exact scenario playing out with them.
Cousins decision to leave the Vikings came down to the fact that the team informed him they would be selecting a quarterback with their first pick of the draft that year. Minnesota did exactly what they told Cousins they would do and took a quarterback J.J. McCarthy with their top selection. Cousins would never have imagined that his new team would do the same.
“A reason he decided to leave Minnesota is because the Vikings were very up front with the 35-year-old about the possibility that, even in the case he stayed, they’d take a quarterback of the future high in the draft,” Breer wrote.
Minnesota Vikings Were More Open With Kirk Cousins
Let’s just say that the Cousins and Falcons relationship has had a rocky start. His former team gave him the heads up that they would take a quarterback weeks in advance, but the Falcons were reported to not mentioned their draft plans to their new quarterback that they are going to pay over a hundred million dollars to.
The deal is a four year $180 Million deal to be specific, and Cousins assumed he would have been informed about the Falcons draft plans ahead of time. Per Andrew Gould of The Spun:
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that the Falcons informed Cousins of their decision to draft Penix while they were on the clock. Cousins was “a bit stunned,” believing any potential of them considering a quarterback wouldn’t happen in the first round.
Right after the Falcons shocked the NFL world, the Vikings did exactly what they told Cousins they would do and got their quarterback for their future. It is quite ironic that Cousins left the Vikings because they would take a quarterback only to have his new team do exactly that.
Breer predicted that Cousins and the Falcons will work through any awkwardness caused by the Penix pick because Cousins is an “adult” and new head coach Raheem Morris is “phenomenal” at developing relationships with players.
What is Atlanta Thinking?