On Monday, during the NFL's legal tampering period, the top free agent, QB Kirk Cousins, will head to Atlanta and quarterback the Falcons. A huge move that will dictate quite a bit in free agency, the Falcons are making a huge move at their QB spot, bringing in Kirk Cousins to QB the team for the time being.
It's a four-year deal, and at this time, the numbers are not known.
Cousins, approaching his age-36 season, is rehabbing a torn Achilles that he suffered about halfway through the 2023 NFL Season. Kirk Cousins was easily on pace to have the best year of his career, so the injury was doubly depressing to watch happen. The Falcons did bring in a new regime in 2024, inserting Shanahan/McVay disciple, Raheem Morris.
BREAKING: Free agent QB Kirk Cousins has agreed to terms on a deal with the #Falcons, per his agent @MikeMcCartney7. pic.twitter.com/hUVBSvHZoZ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 11, 2024
The fit of Kirk Cousins to the Falcons made sense. The roster is pretty well-rounded, and Raheem Morris is a Shanahan/McVay guy. Kirk Cousins has played in this type of offense throughout his career, and now he'll get to throw the ball to Drake London and Kyle Pitts, and will get to hand the ball off to Bijan Robinson.
If you're former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, you have to feel pretty slighted, right? Arthur Smith surely would have loved to have had Cousins as his QB, but that's how life works sometimes. For Kirk Cousins, it's likely to be another huge payday.
And now for the Minnesota Vikings, they'll begin looking elsewhere for their franchise quarterback, and I think it's likely that they come away with a rookie QB through the 2024 NFL Draft. For Kirk Cousins, he has consistently been efficient, but is largely a QB that teams win with, not because of.
And it's been that way for his entire career, so the Atlanta Falcons surely have a ceiling with Cousins under center, but now they have stable QB play.