No team has ever quite been in the situation the Atlanta Falcons find themselves in entering the 2025 season. Sure, there have been quarterback controversies before, but this one—between Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.—is particularly unique.
With Penix set to take over as the starter, Cousins is now poised to become the highest-paid backup quarterback in NFL history. Cousins will earn a whopping $27.5 million this season, while Penix, now in Year 2, will make just under $1 million ($960,000).
This is certainly not how either quarterback envisioned their time together unfolding in Atlanta—though Penix may have secretly hoped for such an outcome. Still, this is the Falcons’ reality, and perhaps one that could have been avoided.
Atlanta likely could have found a trade partner for Cousins, although it would have meant eating a large chunk of his remaining four-year, $180 million contract. A trade would have allowed for a clean break, but the financial hit would have been massive. That’s why ESPN’s Seth Walder believes keeping Cousins was ultimately the right decision.
“The Falcons are moving forward with Penix at quarterback but opted to keep Kirk Cousins on the roster past the fifth day of the league year, which triggered a full guarantee for his $10 million 2026 roster bonus,” Walder wrote. “It might have created an awkward situation, but it was the right call. All the other money owed Cousins is a sunk cost, so the $10 million is what matters. If Atlanta decides to trade Cousins before or during the season, I think they’ll get a little more than $10 million of value. If not, he’s worth more than $10 million as a high-end backup.”
In June, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said he believed Cousins would indeed serve as a backup this season, barring a drastic change in the quarterback landscape elsewhere.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
“It feels, to me at least, like it’ll take a material change to someone else’s quarterback situation (be it by performance or injury) for Cousins to wind up on another team,” Breer wrote. “My understanding is that once camp starts, Cousins, whose family is now rooted in his wife’s home state of Georgia, might not just waive his no-trade clause to start anywhere—it may take the right situation for him to go.
“I wouldn’t say this story is over. But we are well into the back half of the book.”
Of course, none of this may have happened if the Falcons had been upfront with Cousins before he signed. The former Vikings quarterback has made it clear he likely would have remained in Minnesota had he known the team’s draft plans.
“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.”
Now, the pressure falls squarely on Penix to lead Atlanta back to the playoffs—something no Falcons quarterback has accomplished in the last seven years. If he falters, Cousins will likely be ready and willing to reclaim the reins.