Kirk Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons during the 2024 NFL offseason in the hopes of turning the team into a legitimate contender. Just 14 games into his Falcons career, Cousins is heading to the bench.
The Falcons announced that they would start rookie Michael Penix Jr. over Cousins in the team’s Week 16 matchup against the New York Giants. The lefthanded Penix was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft and will become the fifth of the class’ six first-round quarterbacks to make a start during his rookie season.
Cousins’ benching comes amid a rough five-week stretch for the Falcons. Atlanta snapped a four-game losing streak in its 15-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15, but the team nearly blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter to its former starting quarterback, Desmond Ridder.
Cousins completed 11-of-17 passes for 112 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the contest. Raheem Morris and the Falcons coaching staff seemed reluctant to let Cousins throw throughout the contest, instead leaning on Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier to carry the ball a combined 34 times.
The writing appears to be on the wall for Cousins’ Falcons career given that erosion of trust and Penix’s status as a high-end draft pick. Both parties could seek a change of scenery during the 2025 NFL offseason and it shouldn’t be too difficult for Atlanta to part with Cousins’ contract if it so desires.
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Here’s what to know about Cousins’ contract in Atlanta and future with the team.
Kirk Cousins contract details
Cousins signed a four-year contract with the Falcons during the 2024 NFL offseason after spending six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. His deal with Atlanta was the largest given to a member of the 2024 free-agent class and ranks 12th in the NFL in average annual value (AAV) among quarterbacks.
Below are the details of Cousins’ contract, per Spotrac.com:
Term: 4 years
Total value: $180 million
Average annual value (AAV): $45 million
Guaranteed money: $100 million
The Falcons guaranteed $90 million of Cousins’ salary at signing and have already paid $62.5 million of that in the form of a $50 million signing bonus and his $12.5 million base salary for 2024.
Atlanta can move on from Cousins during the 2025 NFL offseason while absorbing a dead-cap hit – a term given to salary cap space taken up by a player no longer with a team – of $65 million. This stems from remaining $37.5 million of his signing bonus, which was prorated over four years, and the $27.5 million base salary he is owed for the 2025 NFL season, which the team has already guaranteed.
Cousins will also be guaranteed a $10 million roster bonus for 2026 if he’s on the roster past the fifth day of the NFL’s 2025 league year, which will begin after free agency in March. That represents a deadline of sort by which the Falcons must move on from Cousins to avoid owing him extra money.
Cousins’ $65 million dead cap would be the third-largest in NFL history behind only the $85 million the Denver Broncos took on in releasing Russell Wilson and the $69.3 million the Giants accrued for 2024 and 2025 by releasing Daniel Jones earlier this season. While that may not seem palatable, the Falcons having a cost-controlled young quarterback in Penix may soften the blow of doing that.
That said, the Falcons can lower their dead-cap hit to $37.5 million if they are able to trade Cousins. That may be their best path toward parting with the 36-year-old quarterback.
Can the Falcons trade Kirk Cousins?
Cousins’ recent performance has left a lot to be desired, but his contract looks like a moveable asset.
Any suitor wishing to take on Cousins’ current contract would only owe him a guaranteed $37.5 million over the rest of his contract. That would stem from his fully guaranteed $27.5 million salary for the 2025 NFL season and his $10 million roster bonus for 2026.
Such a financial commitment is more than reasonable by today’s quarterback standards. And if either Cousins or the team acquiring him were unhappy with the remainder of the deal, they could work out an extension that lowers Cousins’ present-day cap hit, which would benefit the team acquiring him, while adding more guarantees to the future deal, which would benefit Cousins.
The only way the Falcons might fail to trade Cousins is if the rest of the NFL’s teams believe his downturn is permanent. But given the dearth of talent at the quarterback position in general, it stands to reason that at least one team would be interested in trying to rebuild Cousins into a quality starter.
Kirk Cousins contract history
Cousins has played for three teams during his NFL career – Washington, Minnesota and Atlanta – and has signed several lucrative deals with each club. Below is a run-down of each deal that he has signed, dating back to his rookie contract in 2012.
2012: Cousins signs four-year, $2.57 million rookie contract with Washington
2016: Cousins signs one-year, $19.953 million franchise tag with Washington
2017: Cousins signs one-year, $23.9 million franchise tag with Washington
2018: Cousins signs three-year, $84 million contract with Minnesota
2020: Cousins signs two-year, $66 million extension with Minnesota
2022: Cousins signs one-year, $35 million extension with Minnesota
2024: Cousins signs four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta