The backup is getting paid a pretty penny to hold a clip board and be a mentor. The Atlanta Falcons will keep quarterback Kirk Cousins on their 53-man roster past 4 p.m. ET Saturday, putting into effect immediately a $10 million roster bonus that will hit the Falcons’ salary cap in 2026. ESPN’s senior NFL insider Adam Schefter initially reported the news on social media.
The 36-year-old Cousins met with Falcons owner Arthur Blank the week before free agency got underway, to air out his grievances and express his desire to be on a team where he can compete for a starting job in 2025. With rising second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. named as the starter in 2025, that team will not be the Falcons.
But Atlanta can afford to drag their feet and is not in much of a hurry to move Cousins, who now appears trapped, barring an unforeseen trade. Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has been crystal clear throughout the offseason that Cousins is the team’s backup to Penix.
“We are very comfortable moving forward with (Cousins) as backup,” Fontenot said during his end-of-season press conference Jan. 9. “Kirk is a great man, and he’s been great support for Mike. We are very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
The Falcons paid Cousins $62.5 million guaranteed in 2024, in his first year with the organization and will give him another $27.5 million guaranteed in 2025. With another $10 million guaranteed for 2026, the Falcons committed $100 million to Cousins for 14 starts.
Embed from Getty ImagesFontenot said at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, that the Falcons are content with its cap situation at quarterback, because the overall financial commitment to the position remains the same regardless of whether Penix or Cousins is the starter.
Fontenot acknowledged it is not ideal to have a backup quarterback making Cousins-level money. But the Falcons were most likely going to have to pay a backup $10 million anyway this spring, meaning with or without Cousins, the financial situation was not going to be much different.
Atlanta still has a chance to ship Cousins out of town at some point this offseason. Being that the extra $10-million guarantee does not kick in until 2026, a team might be less inclined to trade for him and pick up the tab on Atlanta’s decision. Fontenot and the Falcons are keeping their fingers crossed on a desperate team coming to bail them out of financial jail in what has been one of the worst free agent signings in recent NFL history.
Over 14 games for the Falcons, Cousins completed 66.9% of his passes for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Over his final five starts, he threw only one touchdown and nine picks, while the Falcons went just 1-4.
Cousins later said he suffered right elbow and right shoulder injuries in a Week 10 loss to their NFC South rival the New Orleans Saints, which started his tailspin. The Falcons vehemently disagreed, noting he was on the injury report after Week 10, cleared to play in Week 11 and did not appear on the report again. Instead, they watched Cousins nosedive for over a month before finally making a move.
The Falcons benched Cousins for Penix before Week 16. Cousins served as the backup for the final three games.
If the Falcons were to trade him, Cousins would have to approve any deal because he has a no-trade clause.
