In comments shared during an episode of the Netflix series “Quarterback,” which premiered earlier this week, Atlanta Falcons veteran Kirk Cousins acknowledged that he felt “a little bit misled” after the Falcons made signal-caller Michael Penix Jr. the eighth overall pick of the 2024 draft.
According to a piece produced by NFL insider Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports that was published on Friday morning, Cousins was being “diplomatic” with his words.
“Everything I have heard from talking to those close to Cousins is that the more accurate descriptor — and more acidic — is that he was lied to,” Robinson wrote. “He signed in Atlanta believing he was going to be the unquestioned starter who absolutely wouldn’t need to worry about a creeping rookie first-round pick waiting in the wings.”
Robinson’s update is hardly surprising, as Cousins hinted shortly after last year’s draft that he wouldn’t have inked
a four-year, $180M contract that included $100M guaranteed to join the Falcons had he known the club would use its first-round selection on his eventual replacement. Additionally, Cousins made it clear during the program that he played through multiple injuries across what became a 1-4 stretch because he feared, before the Falcons turned to Penix ahead of Week 16, that he “may never get [his] job back.”
The perception exists that some people within the organization feel Cousins hid how banged up he was as the Falcons went from 6-3 to 7-7.
Penix is now on track to enter training camp as a full-time starter for the first time in his career, and he’s working to establish himself as the club’s new offensive CEO while he shares a quarterback room with an unhappy teammate who turns 37 years old in August and wants to be a starter. Robinson wrote that Cousins is “pining for” a return to Minnesota, but the Vikings are planning to start 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy in September.
That said, McCarthy spent his entire rookie season recovering from a full meniscus repair. Perhaps a Minnesota team that went 14-3 with Sam Darnold as its starter will give the Falcons a call about Cousins’ services if McCarthy looks more like a project for the future than a championship-caliber quarterback this coming fall.
Cousins originally featured for Minnesota from 2018-2023.
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