Kirk Cousins has once again taken center stage in Netflix's hit series Quarterback. But in the Atlanta Falcons quarterback’s second appearance, the focus is less about on-field success and more about his fractured relationship with his new team.
Once the series dropped earlier this week, media outlets quickly jumped on Cousins’ brutally honest comments about what went wrong in 2024 — a saga that began the moment the Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
“Was pretty surprised when the draft happened, wasn’t expecting us to take a quarterback so high,” Cousins said. “At the time, it felt like I had been a little bit misled or certainly if I had had the information around free agency, it would have affected my decision. I had no reason to leave Minnesota, as much as we loved it there, if both teams were drafting a quarterback high.”
CBS Sports’ John Breech and former NFL agent Joel Corry were among those who came to Cousins’ defense, believing the Falcons mishandled the situation.
“The Falcons weren’t candid about the QB situation when Kirk Cousins was making his decision in free agency,” Corry posted on X. “If I represented Cousins, I would [be] pissed about key info being withheld.”
Breech noted that if the Falcons had simply been upfront, the entire 2024 offseason could have played out differently — not just for Cousins, but for several teams and quarterbacks.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
In this alternate scenario, Cousins remains in Minnesota on a one-year deal, while Sam Darnold signs with the Broncos. Denver, now no longer in need of a quarterback, opts to draft tight end Brock Bowers over Bo Nix. Nix, instead, lands with the Raiders.
And the biggest ripple effect? According to Breech, there would have been a good chance Cousins signed with the Browns.
“If Cousins had stayed in Minnesota last year, he likely would have signed a one-year deal with the knowledge that the Vikings would be moving on to McCarthy in 2025,” Breech wrote. “That means Cousins would have hit free agency this year, and that’s where the Browns come in. Instead of drafting Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel or signing Joe Flacco, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski decides to reunite with Cousins, a player he coached in Minnesota for two seasons.”
It would have drastically changed the current quarterback landscape in Cleveland. Flacco may have retired. Pickett might still be in Philadelphia or traded somewhere else. And rookies like Gabriel and Sanders may have fallen to other teams — or, in Sanders’ case, maybe even gone undrafted.
The true impact of the Falcons’ decision to sign Cousins and then immediately draft Penix remains one of the wildest quarterback moves in recent NFL history. And as the Netflix series makes clear, the fallout is far from over.