Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins might welcome a commerce from the Atlanta Falcons to any crew prepared to make him their starter now that the membership has 2024 first-round draft decide Michael Penix Jr. atop its depth chart.
Nevertheless, for a mailbag printed on Wednesday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports activities Illustrated defined why he thinks Cousins might function Penix’s backup through the upcoming season.
“It feels, to me at the very least, prefer it’ll take a cloth change to another person’s quarterback scenario (be it by efficiency or damage) for Cousins to wind up on one other crew,” Breer wrote. “My understanding is that when camp begins, Cousins, whose household is now rooted in his spouse’s house state of Georgia, may not simply waive his no-trade clause to start out anyplace — it could take the best scenario for him to go. I wouldn’t say this story is over. However we’re effectively into the again half of the e-book.”
Atlanta’s first coaching camp apply is ready to happen on July 24.
Cousins’ spouse grew up in Alpharetta, Georgia, and her background reportedly impacted his resolution to simply accept a four-year deal price as much as $180M with $100M assured supplied by the Falcons again in March 2024. The connection between Cousins and the membership has seemingly not been the identical for the reason that crew chosen Penix with the eighth total decide in final yr’s draft. Nonetheless, there may be additionally no indication that the Falcons will launch the 36-year-old earlier than the 2025 season begins.
Whereas Cousins theoretically might afford to steer clear of the Falcons throughout coaching camp in an try to obtain his desired launch, the truth that he attended obligatory minicamp periods signifies he’ll report back to coaching camp on time. In the meantime, golf equipment such because the Pittsburgh Steelers that would have been all in favour of buying Cousins again in March have since made different preparations (akin to Pittsburgh signing Aaron Rodgers).
Breer’s replace might function a “come get me” sign to different franchises relating to Cousins’ availability. Issues typically change shortly within the NFL, however there’s at the moment no purpose to assume any crew will quit a significant asset and pay a good portion of Cousins’ wage to make him its QB1 earlier than the ultimate weekend of July arrives.
