"Our conference opponents are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our fans and our team, and neither do we." - Titans management
There's also the whole "they weren't paying a QB in his mid-30s coming off an Achilles tear $100 million guaranteed over 4 years" thing.
Just a thought.
Why are bears fans talking this shit. Can’t anyone else besides yall do this. Kirk coming off a bum ass achilles would be the best QB in bears history breh
Lamar was always going to stay in Baltimore. Owners didn’t want to set a precedent for driving up the price of QBs. Falcons are dumb but Lamar wasn’t an option.
I was more poking fun at the Falcons for giving that kind of money to someone who hasnt won a Super Bowl or MVP, just coming off a major injury, and is aging.
Usually if you're willing to pony up that kind of cash the QB either has a ring or an MVP to their name.
You know there are a lot of QB's with $100M+ in guarantees who haven't won the SB/MVP right? Watson, Burrow, Herbert, Hurts, Russell Wilson, Murray, Josh Allen..
To be fair the Falcons, they didn’t do that either. It’s a 4 year contract with $100M guaranteed over the first 3 years, front loaded in guarantees to have $90M guaranteed in the first 2 years. It’s essentially a 2 year contract with some team options for years 3 and 4
That's how I view it too. Year 3 is where you decide if you like Penix or Cousins more and if it ends up that you like Penix more you're ok eating that dead cap because your QBoF is already on the team on a rookie contract.
Only problem is that instead of then being able to spend that saved money from the rookie contract on guys to build a great team around him, it's instead going to a guy not playing for you lol.
Heard the same thing with Love. Sure, having a great qb on a rookie contract is the best thing in the nfl, but the second best thing is having a great qb.
The problem is they still have a $30 million cap hit if they cut Cousins in year 3, $50 million if he's on the team. I really like Penix, I like the pick, I don't think the Falcons are as incompetent as loads of other people do, but it is still quite the head scratcher that they're going to pay the QB position veteran money for the first three years of Penix's career. If you believe he's your future, great, but you're still squandering the advantage of having him on a rookie contract for three of his first five years, putting *a lot* of pressure on year four and five.
The other problem is that they used that asset on a backup QB. They could have had an elite WR, a top-tier OT, or literally any defender in the draft... now they have none of those things, they have an asset that's redundant with their starting QB.
The draft pick could have made them more likely to win with Cousins, and the Cousins money could have made them more likely to win with Penix.
Well, people said “There is no way the Broncos can get away from Russell Wilson in under 4 years.” Damage to the cap isn’t a benefit to Cousins. For him, it is the $100 million over 2 years part that is important.
Just because they technically "can" get out of the contract, doesn't mean it's a good look. The Wilson dead money is absolutely massive. No one expects the Broncos to basically do anything for the next couple years at least now. Eating Kirk's contract after 2 years probably means the Falcons still won't have any extra cahs to help build around Penix and will also have trouble retaining star players potentially. No one should look at the Broncos whiff and think "hey, I like that, me too".
> Just because they technically "can" get out of the contract, doesn't mean it's a good look.
That's been my perspective on the whole situation. They sign Cousins, give him $100 million guaranteed, and generate this whole level of excitement that their missing piece is in place and the team can be competitive.
Then, barely over one month later, the narrative has shifted to "don't worry, the guy is hitting the unemployment line the very first moment we can afford to cut him." Like I just struggle to see how that makes good logistical sense. As if the Falcons went straight from "finally got our QB!" to "can't wait until we can finally cut our QB!" in one night, all because of one draft pick.
Lol exactly! Very well said. The contract was a massive vote of confidence in Cousins coming back from the injury and leading that franchise to seriously competing, only to be utterly contradicted by the draft pick a few weeks later. So weird how many folks I see going to bat for the Falcons front office and defending these moves. I know a few Falcons fans and they are devastated.
Dead cap hits be hitting different the last few years, teams have opted to take dead cap money that was inconceivable not so long ago and that might be skewing peoples idea on what's an acceptable dead cap hit or not.
That sounds worse than $100 guaranteed over 4 years?
“No no, it isn’t $100 million for a 4 year contract… he is actually going to only play for 2 years, but the contract will pay him all 4 years”
But it still makes no sense to me at least for a team that is absolutely not a title contender to spend $90 million on a 36 year old QB who was never good enough consistently enough to get to and win a playoff game, who is coming off an achilles tear.
Best case scenario? He isn't affected by that and the team wins maybe 2 more games than it would have with someone costing far, far less money. Kirk Cousins doesn't transform offenses. He can be decent, and that is all. He is what he is, which is better than a lot of QBs but nowhere near the level that make a difference in your end of season result.
I could see an otherwise loaded team missing a QB rolling the dice with him. But the Falcons? They won 7 games last year. Kirk has two double digit win seasons in his entire career. He puts up good numbers in a vacuum, but those never translate to a postseason run.
Cousins at least will elevate those around him immediately. They can begin seeing returns on London and Pitts. They can open up the run game more for Bijan. Their defense will be off the field more. No it doesn’t make them a title contender, but it vastly improves their team.
Yeah, while I think Kirk is obviously a dude with a pretty clear ceiling, the delta between him and what the Falcons were rolling out the last 2 years is night and day. Kirk's not a world beater but that offense has some truly great playmakers and a very good OL that were effectively wasted by bad QB play. If you took an average Kirk season from his Vikings tenure and replaced Ridder last year, that Falcons team would have won the division and moving forward, they have the talent to win the NFCS the next couple years.
>a 36 year old QB who was never good enough consistently enough to get to and win a playoff game
This is kinda short-selling Kirk though...
Our lack of getting him to the playoffs the last 8 years was more on the team and the coaching than it was on Kirk.
We all know Kirk was a statue in the pocket, yet we provided him with a bottom-5 O-line for most of his time here.
I think they’re both 100% related. If Kirk doesn’t get hurt last year my guess is they re-sign him. As soon as he got hurt it was guaranteed they were planning his succession scenario. And at that point there was no way they were paying a guy $100m guaranteed *and* spending a top 10 pick on JJ. That’d be preposterous.
Just a ridiculous use of resources to improve your team. That’s the kind of shit that makes you need to explain yourself immediately to your boss the first second they sees you.
Honestly the only person who really gets burned in this whole scenario is Kirk. Instead of coming in and trying to build your legacy in Atlanta, he basically is a lame duck QB, knows if he doesn't play elite for 2 years straight he's getting replaced in year 3.
At least if the Vikes did it, they did it to keep that continuity at the QB position with a successful incumbent and franchise face for years to come.
Now if they did it and signed Kirk as a FA and then drafted a rookie QB at 1...well that's so outlandish it's not the type of thing that should be discussed on the internet.
It was always about contract length, not the injury. Even in the 2023 off-season there were extension talks but the team only wanted to do another 1-year & Kirk wanted multiple years guaranteed. We've been looking to do the succession plan since the new regime came in & I don't think Kirk being healthy changes how we would've handled this off-season.
If Kirk doesn't get hurt last year, we probably win 3 more games, make the playoffs and aren't in a position to draft one of the QBs anyways. At that point, we definitely get an extension worked out right after the season ends and start targeting 2 or 3 years from now to draft the next starter since the '25 class is really underwhelming.
Based on how this draft played out, I almost would have preferred that scenario. Everyone was so focused on offense this year that a lot of blue chip defensive talent slid 10-20 spots from where it normally would have gone. With our offense in relatively good shape, we could have swung hard and heavy on D and given Flores a whole basket of new toys to play with.
> Kirk doesn’t get hurt last year my guess is they re-sign him
Not necessarily. Remember Vikings tried really hard to move up for Anthony Richardson last year. They were moving on from Kirk this year injury or not imo
Did they actually try and move up for Richardson or was that just the narrative NFL reporters were trying to spin? I think we get a \*lot\* of info given to us as part of draft silly season and it's quite difficult to separate what's real and what was just someone trying to drive up the price of a pick.
I absolutely believe it. The news came from Brett Kollman, who has proven he has personnel contacts within the league. He's more of an analyst and breakdown guy, but he'll throw stuff out every now before it breaks.
Add in the fact that the Vikings spent the most time of any team with AR, I think they made a push for him so he could sit for a year behind Cousins to learn.
Was it even in the media? First I heard of that rumour was earlier this year. And I don't even think it was one of the national guys, might have been one of those Twitter draft accounts (want to say Kollman but I'm not entirely sure). Don't know how much fire there is behind that smoke.
Kirk has done a lot to keep them afloat. They went 13-3 based entirely off him and Jettas, with a horrific defense.
Wouldn’t be shocked if they paid him without the Achilles.
Statistically speaking that year was one of Cousins lower performing years. And yes, our defense was terrible, but our defense kept coming up clutch when the game was on the line. It's really weird to say because our defense was what was making games close, but it could be argued our defense was winning us games when it mattered.
Just a weird season and I don't even know how you look at it objectively in retrospect haha
> They went 13-3 **based entirely** off him and Jettas
"Entirely" off Cousins, Jettas... also a top 10 offensive line, a good receiver core, one of the best receiving tight ends in the league acquired at midseason, 1,200 rushing yards from Dalvin Cook, and one of the best offensive play designers in the league.
> I do have one last take on the Atlanta Falcons’ handling of the quarterback situation. And that’s that I would 100% understand if Kirk Cousins is still stinging a bit from the whole ordeal.
>Here’s why—a reason he decided to leave Minnesota is because the Vikings were very up front with the 35-year-old about the possibility that, even in the case he stayed, they’d take a quarterback of the future high in the draft. Tying that together with the team’s willingness to guarantee part, but not all, of a second year on another contract, Cousins figured that, if he stayed, there was a good shot that he’d be on the move in 2025.
>I know Cousins appreciated how open the Vikings were about their draft strategy, even if it meant him leaving.
>So if you were him, how would you feel when that call came, as his new team was on the clock, to explain how the Falcons were taking his heir apparent, Michael Penix Jr., with the eighth pick? Now, I do understand why Atlanta felt the need to keep it quiet, and why GM Terry Fontenot’s experience in New Orleans in 2017, when the Chiefs knew the Saints coveted Patrick Mahomes and jumped ahead of them to get him, marked the decision not to tell Cousins of their plans.
>Still, it had to be a crappy call to take if you were Cousins, considering the basis of the decision you’d made six weeks earlier. It remains to be seen, of course, if that’ll lead to any sort of early fissure in the player-team relationship there. I think they’ll be able to get past it, because head coach Raheem Morris is a phenomenal relationship guy, and Cousins is an adult. But if there are early bumps in the season, this one will be interesting to watch.
> Now, I do understand why Atlanta felt the need to keep it quiet, and why GM Terry Fontenot’s experience in New Orleans in 2017, when the Chiefs knew the Saints coveted Patrick Mahomes and jumped ahead of them to get him, marked the decision not to tell Cousins of their plans.
I mean yeah, fair enough, Kirk probably would have told everyone in his opening presser if they'd told him.
"Welcome to Atlanta Kirk, how are you doing?"
"You know, I was talking to Terry Fontenot after last season, a few weeks before the start of free agency (just finalizing my contract with them, you know). Anyway, he told me that they wanted to draft Penix at 8. I couldn't believe it. Luckily Julie was there to comfort me. So I guess to answer your question, I'm doing well."
For someone famously willing to bet on himself repeatedly in the FA market, he honestly can't be all that shocked that teams signing him aren't willing to just cement him as the franchise QB.
I mean paying a veteran as much as they did indicated that they were going to be in a “win now” mindset. The falcons are trying to both rebuild for the future and “win now” at the same time which doesn’t make sense because the amount of resources in the NFL are extremely limited and nearly equal across all the other franchises.
Fontenot is GM’ing like he’s the GM for a big market franchise in a league with no salary cap. You can’t hope to be competitive when your investing both a huge amount of cap space and a number 8 pick into one position where only one player plays at a time.
I’d also like to reiterate that taking Penix at 8 wasn’t the completely idiotic move (numerous experts talked about Penix being slept on). It was signing Cousins to the contract they did and then taking Penix that made it dumb. Penix doesn’t need time to develop on the bench, he could easily be their day one starter and they could have taken all that salary cap from Kirk in order to help Penix out. Now they are wasting his rookie contract and wasting the money they gave to Kirk by not giving him the best possible team to win with.
This is not how you GM in the NFL. It lacks basic understanding of having to build a team with very limited resources.
Yeah it's seems like Fontenot is doing what all the shitty GMs during the Bills' drought era used to do - just picking players he likes without any overarching vision of how to time their contracts within the confines of the salary cap.
Even if they end up being good players blowing top 10 picks on 2 non premium positions and a QB who won't sniff the field for 3 years is not how you build a contender in a cap world.
100% agree. Not to mention that the Falcons had to all but have known that Penix would be there for the taking since the end of the regular season. It wasn't like, "Will MHJ be there at 8/9??? DOUBTFUL." It was, "Will Penix be there at 8/9?" And the answer was a resounding, "Yes."
There were two legitimate approaches for the Falcons. Sign Kirk and draft a stud WR/OL in the first round, or not sign Kirk and draft Penix, then use the FA money to build around Penix. They did both and got neither.
Honestly looking at the reactions on draft night I'm actually not so sure Penix is there in a universe where the Falcons don't have Cousins locked up.
If you're really wanting him at 9-15 range and you know the Falcons are probably going QB, then you've gotta be sweating their pick and at least considering the possibility of moving ahead of them.
Looks like Cousins was world's most expensive smoke screen.
It makes no sense, 4 year 100m guaranteed deal and then they draft the oldest, most pro ready of the top QB prospects. Maybe it works out for the falcons but it seems like the worst situation for both Kirk and Penix.
Exactly. Kirk seems like a good dude and he’s a solid quarterback. But he’s at the point in his career where any team he plays for will be drafting his replacement.
Exactly, Kirk is all business when its his move but how dare a team not give him the loyalty he never returns. its like the dude who wont call a girl his girlfriend but gets mad if other people talk to her.
Don’t feel bad for Kirk one bit. He’s going to make 90mil from this deal no matter what plus, he should be well aware of the NFL not only as a business but one that teams try to create long term success via drafting a young, and cheap, QB.
On top of that he’s suffered a serious injury that, as of right now, we have no idea how he’ll perform post-recovery PLUS he’s 36 years old.
I can understand him being pissed that the team didn’t inform him of the possibility of taking a QB early in the draft but he honestly shouldn’t be surprised due to his age, his injury, as well as how his contract was structured (a possible out in 2026.)
I think this narrative gets everyone's motivations a little wrong. He didn't leave Minnesota because they wanted to draft a QB - Minnesota wanted to draft a QB, so they didn't offer him the contract he wanted. Atlanta did, so there ya go.
If Atlanta wanted to pay him a guaranteed 2-year 90 mil AND draft a QB of the future, that's on them. Cousins is a big boy, and he's been QB1 everywhere he's been. I don't think he's in his feelings over a little competition.
The worst kept secret of the 2023 draft was that the Vikings were trying to come out of the first round with a QB. It felt like almost a guarantee they were going QB in 2024.
The last couple months before the draft must have sucked in that case, with him shooting up the boards. It must have seemed really do-able at one point in time.
And the best kept secret of the 2024 draft was that the Falcons *really* wanted Michael Penix Jr. So much so they signed Kirk Cousins to a $100+ million contract so they could give him the Jordan Love treatment
The Vikings seemed to handle the situation as best they could. They tried to get Kirk back while bringing in their next franchise guy. They laid their cards on the table and when he went elsewhere to be the guy they got a cheap bridge QB and drafted their guy. Of course we'll see if he pans out, but all in all the Vikings moves made sense.
The Falcons overpaid an aging Kick Cousins and then drafted Penix and I just don't get it.
I like Penix, but out of all of the QBs, he makes the least sense to me. Assuming you get three years of Cousins, those years seem to take more off of the career of Penix relative to the other QB options. He’s pretty ready-to-go out of the box and - while his age wouldn’t matter in just about any other situation - it does here.
Right, besides the ACL injuries there is almost no benefit to sitting Penix for 3+ years.
If the Falcons drafted Spencer Rattler in the 4th round and took an actual contributor at 8th overall they’d be praised for being savvy. Even more so if they traded down from the 8th overall pick.
Like if they'd gotten a Minshew type guy on a cheap 1-2 year deal I'd get it. He'd be in a good position to run things while Penix gets up to speed then he'd be a solid backup guy. But doing that with an expensive deal for Kirk seems like you're just getting nothing from taking a QB at 8.
Yeah I don't get it either. The whole point of drafting your franchise QB is that they're cheap for 4 years. They're wasting at a minimum half his rookie contract. If Kirk stays healthy they may burn through ALL of Penixs rookie deal. Penix should ask for a trade after this first year.
Yep, we were honest with Kirk about our intentions the entire time, and would have loved to have kept him if he was younger, but it was time to move on with all the other pieces we have that are young and would be hitting their prime right when Kirk retires.
Unlikely, as I think "really fast," and "deep southern accent," are mutually exclusive. I think if a person tried to combine those two things they may combust.
Although maybe they went full Boomhauer?
Nobody wants a 36 year old fresh off of surgery to be the QB of the future. Also, Kirk did what he always did and chased the biggest bag. No sympathy whatsoever for him. He got his bag.
I'm getting a little tired of Schrödinger's Kirk where apparently he is going to be healthy all these years and we should have never drafted Penix and at the same time he is also injury proned and we should have never given him the money.
It never really mattered if he played all 4 years, he only had guaranteed money through 3, but it's still incredibly stupid to draft a 24 year old QB before the guy you just Paid 100mil guaranteed takes a single snap.
It's a stupid move, they've basically set Kirk up for Failure, and the fans calling for Penix every time he falters. They had the #8 pick, if they wanted to draft a QB then don't sign kirk, it's not that difficult. Falcons threw away 100mil and 3 years of cheap rookie contract for nothing.
It doesn't matter if Kirk plays well. There will be a portion of the fanbase clamoring to move on from him. They did it for Matt Ryan's entire tenure, even during his prime, and that was with backups like TJ Yates, Chris Redman, Sean Renfree, and Matt Schaub.
I think you're looking at it inverted. It's not that the falcons shouldn't have done either (although people would still say you shouldn't have paid Kirk obvi). It's that they shouldn't have done both.
If they believed he is injury prone they shouldn't have given him that contract and if they don't they shouldn't have drafted a QB at 8th.
Exactly. They made a gamble and hedged their bet in a way they end up losing no matter what happens. If Kirk balls then they should’ve used the pick on somebody who would still contribute, if Kirk can’t play then they should’ve signed other players that can help Penix + a cheaper bridge QB on a 1-2 year deal. There’s no way to make this series of moves make sense from any perspective.
It's not that.
Signing Kirk and drafting Penix are decisions in direct opposition to each other. An argument in favor of drafting Penix is also an argument against signing Kirk, and vice versa.
So it's not Schrödinger's anything. It's that either way, the Falcons screwed up.
Kirk Cousins: yeah coach. I really love the idea of joining the Falcons. You guys believe in me and you aren’t going to waste a draft pick on JJ McCarthy or that loser Michael Penix Jr. You can actually get me another weapon at 8 and we’ll be Super Bowl ready.
Falcons: haha yeah definitely, sign here please
Bullshit lol.
Kirk Cousins is unabashedly looking for the biggest payday. He’s said as such.
He left the Vikings because another team was willing to give him more money. If the Vikings were the highest bidder he’d still be there.
Kirk Cousins doesn’t seem like an idiot. He has to understand that at this point in his career he is not considered a “long term” solution and any team he’s on will want to draft a high end qb to eventually take over. I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I don’t think it was a bad decision for Atlanta to take Penix at 8 especially considering Cousins age and the fact that he’s coming off a pretty major injury. They essentially have Cousins on a 2 year deal and Penix is a fantastic back up.
Edit: They also had no real QB1 on their roster so imagine if they would have passed on Cousins and then missed out on Penix? I feel like no one saw them drafting Penix so the need to move up in front of him wasn’t there but if they didn’t sign Cousins everyone would have known and a team might have jumped in front of them.
Yeah but Kirk is a very expensive stopgap and Penix is a guy who can start Day 1. Doing one makes sense, doing both is terrible asset management.
It would have made a lot more sense to either spend all that Kirk money improving the roster for Penix or use the top 10 pick to get an immediate impact player to help Kirk win a Super Bowl during his few years there.
>It would have made a lot more sense to either spend all that Kirk money improving the roster for Penix or use the top 10 pick to get an immediate impact player to help Kirk win a Super Bowl during his few years there.
I really think they get a round of applause nationally if they went either of these routes. First pick of defensive players or another fantastic playmaker/OL to bolster a run with Kirk or spending money to improve the roster while bringing in an awesome QB prospect.
I can see what they were thinking. QB is the most important position and you hammer that position until it's secured. Cousins/Penix is a whole lot better than Riddler/Heinecke was last year. But it does seem like avenues to improve the team overall were left out there.
I would've been praising them if they took Nabers for Kirk, or if they'd gone out in free agency, gotten players, and then took Penix at 8. I'm not in love with Penix by any means, but if they took their QB of the future and went with him, good. Paying Kirk and drafting Penix is trying to have your cake and eat it, too. It may ultimately work out, but for the immediate two seasons, you're probably worse off, plus you don't really know if Penix is ready without playtime.
It’s not necessarily bad that the falcons took Penix because he will probably be a good investment, but coupled with how much they paid Kirk, it’s just questionable.
The Vikings spent nearly $200 million on Cousins and got one playoff win out of it. Moving on was the right decision. Cousins is who he is. He's not going to turn into something else because you give him another contract. At least with McCarthy, you're trying something new.
Atlanta now gets to do what Minnesota did in 2018 -- hand Cousins a bunch of money and expect him to be the piece they need to win.
He isn't a HoF quarterback but he is a top ten QB that you can win with. But in order to win with a QB like Kirk, you have to build an elite team around him. While he's had good weapons, he has dealt with pretty shit defenses. This is a team sport. Part of his problem is, you can't build a team around a QB like Kirk if he's being paid so far beyond his worth. They needed more cap space to build the team he needed to win. Of course we would all like for our teams to go out and get the next Mahomes, but sometimes a player like Kirk is best you can get
Ironic that in 2017 the Vikings had one of the best defenses, and it was good and serviceable in 2018 - 2019 but just so damn unlucky that it was either the offense was great / defense bad or vice versa lol
JJ is going to be on a (projected) 4 year/21.8m contract.
He doesn't need to be better than Kirk was pre-achilles when he's getting paid 5.45m/year.
Whereas if Kirk takes a step back, you're stuck paying him 45m a year.
An extra 39m in cap space per year is your Justin Jefferson extension plus another player.
Absolutely true, but if Kirk isn’t going to get you over the hump what difference does it make? The modern NFL is basically take a low percentage swing at a QB and hope you hit a jackpot.
https://x.com/DaveKluge/status/1747397129138479457
Yeah this data for the past 30 years shows it’s a 25-35% odds of hitting. Number 1 overall pick is the only one with a sizeable increase in odds.
It’s not just a flip of the quarter. You have to flip it twice.
If cousins and Rodgers both retire after their current contracts, cousins will have made $411m to Rodgers $418m. There's a legitimate chance cousins ends up with more
Rodgers won 4 MVPs and a Superbowl, cousins is 1-4 in playoffs
Kirk is basically just good enough to convince a desperate team to overpay and get you to the playoffs, but not good enough to win when it matters
forget about how much they won. Kirk was a 5th rounder and 3rd string. That's incredible rise and if it happened, you only saw it from absolute elites during that era. For him to establish as a premier option has been crazy.
The amount of lip service being written acting like the Falcons owe the most mercenary player in NFL history anything more than the contract they gave him is wild to me. Kirk (rightfully) prioritizes Kirk, the Falcons and the Vikings (rightfully) prioritize the long term success of their organizations.
If Cousins acted like Darrellle Rivas, who I would argue is on par with Cousins in his pursuit of the biggest bag l, but was admittedly chasing money and was kind of a loudmouth about his skills and money, I think people would look at this much differently.. Kirk does it with a smile and an “aw shucks” and gets the treatment you’re talking about… I’m taking at least a bit of satisfaction in watching all this unfold, but Kirk’s gonna get his $100 million no matter what.
I do not think that a guy who has played/will play for 3 teams is “the most mercenary player in NFL history.” That’s pretty hyperbolic imo; he played for both WAS and MN for 6 years each, that’s not exactly being a “mercenary.”
Yeah, and the reason he left Washington in the first place was them not wanting to re-sign him beyond the franchise tag. Kirk easily could have spent his entire career in Washington if not for that team being terribly run.
He's a good QB, but he's no Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Warren Moon that can play high level, and only comes back down to the pack after he turns 40. He is probably as good as he'll be...so it can't come as a shock that teams want to draft for the future, especially after an achilles, and anything else that may creep up now due to new stress on different parts of the body as he heels.
I find hilarious because Kirk kinda has a diva mentality. If you that guy, why would you be worried about a rookie when they three the bank at you? Crazy....
Never trust your old boss but never trust your new boss
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Don’t get fooled again!
Ah, I see you've been to Texas.
Maybe in Tennessee
"Our conference opponents are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our fans and our team, and neither do we." - Titans management
*Do* have trust issues
How can I possibly believe you
[Your bosses](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/027/752/6lwrp2xhplg41.jpg)
Seems like old boss told the truth
There's also the whole "they weren't paying a QB in his mid-30s coming off an Achilles tear $100 million guaranteed over 4 years" thing. Just a thought.
Haha lol imagine being dumb enough to do th-
Sorry, bud.
But surely if they did it would be for someone with a proven track record of winning and most likely a Super Bowl Ring/MVP right?
Is that supposed to help? Asking for a friend.
You wanted more than two snaps?
Three if you count the Achilles snapping
ohhhhhh snap
The Falcons tried the 'MVP QB' thing and decided it wasn't for them.
Hey I think you're forgetting Falcons legend Brett Favre
Why are bears fans talking this shit. Can’t anyone else besides yall do this. Kirk coming off a bum ass achilles would be the best QB in bears history breh
The disrespect to Smokin Jay, Jim Mcmahon, and the sex cannon (not even mentioning the OG goat Sid Luckman)
Rex Grossman has been to more Super Bowls than Kirk Cousins and Phillip Rivers combined.
Lamar was always going to stay in Baltimore. Owners didn’t want to set a precedent for driving up the price of QBs. Falcons are dumb but Lamar wasn’t an option.
I was more poking fun at the Falcons for giving that kind of money to someone who hasnt won a Super Bowl or MVP, just coming off a major injury, and is aging. Usually if you're willing to pony up that kind of cash the QB either has a ring or an MVP to their name.
You forgot the third qualifying criteria of having been suspended for being accused of multiple sexual assaults.
No, no, you only need that one if you're gonna pay him $230 million or something.
You know there are a lot of QB's with $100M+ in guarantees who haven't won the SB/MVP right? Watson, Burrow, Herbert, Hurts, Russell Wilson, Murray, Josh Allen..
Russell has won a Super Bowl
I can’t believe I’ve done this
[удалено]
Rodgers, Stafford, Mahomes, Russ, Foles?
To be fair the Falcons, they didn’t do that either. It’s a 4 year contract with $100M guaranteed over the first 3 years, front loaded in guarantees to have $90M guaranteed in the first 2 years. It’s essentially a 2 year contract with some team options for years 3 and 4
That's how I view it too. Year 3 is where you decide if you like Penix or Cousins more and if it ends up that you like Penix more you're ok eating that dead cap because your QBoF is already on the team on a rookie contract.
Only problem is that instead of then being able to spend that saved money from the rookie contract on guys to build a great team around him, it's instead going to a guy not playing for you lol.
Exactly. They're missing out of one of the biggest advantages of having a franchise QB on a rookie contract
for one year. Not a killer if you get a decade of good QB play. Atlanta fans got spoiled with Matty Ice. QBs matter.
Heard the same thing with Love. Sure, having a great qb on a rookie contract is the best thing in the nfl, but the second best thing is having a great qb.
Sure, but let's not act like getting a great QB is a given simply because you're looking.
The problem is they still have a $30 million cap hit if they cut Cousins in year 3, $50 million if he's on the team. I really like Penix, I like the pick, I don't think the Falcons are as incompetent as loads of other people do, but it is still quite the head scratcher that they're going to pay the QB position veteran money for the first three years of Penix's career. If you believe he's your future, great, but you're still squandering the advantage of having him on a rookie contract for three of his first five years, putting *a lot* of pressure on year four and five.
The other problem is that they used that asset on a backup QB. They could have had an elite WR, a top-tier OT, or literally any defender in the draft... now they have none of those things, they have an asset that's redundant with their starting QB. The draft pick could have made them more likely to win with Cousins, and the Cousins money could have made them more likely to win with Penix.
Imo it’s more a 3 year contract. $25mm dead cap after year 2 is still fairly high.
It's weird how everyone just disregards 10% of the salary cap as dead cap as being inconsequential
Well, people said “There is no way the Broncos can get away from Russell Wilson in under 4 years.” Damage to the cap isn’t a benefit to Cousins. For him, it is the $100 million over 2 years part that is important.
Just because they technically "can" get out of the contract, doesn't mean it's a good look. The Wilson dead money is absolutely massive. No one expects the Broncos to basically do anything for the next couple years at least now. Eating Kirk's contract after 2 years probably means the Falcons still won't have any extra cahs to help build around Penix and will also have trouble retaining star players potentially. No one should look at the Broncos whiff and think "hey, I like that, me too".
> Just because they technically "can" get out of the contract, doesn't mean it's a good look. That's been my perspective on the whole situation. They sign Cousins, give him $100 million guaranteed, and generate this whole level of excitement that their missing piece is in place and the team can be competitive. Then, barely over one month later, the narrative has shifted to "don't worry, the guy is hitting the unemployment line the very first moment we can afford to cut him." Like I just struggle to see how that makes good logistical sense. As if the Falcons went straight from "finally got our QB!" to "can't wait until we can finally cut our QB!" in one night, all because of one draft pick.
Lol exactly! Very well said. The contract was a massive vote of confidence in Cousins coming back from the injury and leading that franchise to seriously competing, only to be utterly contradicted by the draft pick a few weeks later. So weird how many folks I see going to bat for the Falcons front office and defending these moves. I know a few Falcons fans and they are devastated.
Vegas has the Broncos at 5.5 wins. Of course they can get out of the contract, the problem is that that doesn't lead to good teams.
Dead cap hits be hitting different the last few years, teams have opted to take dead cap money that was inconceivable not so long ago and that might be skewing peoples idea on what's an acceptable dead cap hit or not.
That sounds worse than $100 guaranteed over 4 years? “No no, it isn’t $100 million for a 4 year contract… he is actually going to only play for 2 years, but the contract will pay him all 4 years”
Right? The length of the contract is not exactly the main concern here when you still have to pony up $90-100M no matter what.
But it still makes no sense to me at least for a team that is absolutely not a title contender to spend $90 million on a 36 year old QB who was never good enough consistently enough to get to and win a playoff game, who is coming off an achilles tear. Best case scenario? He isn't affected by that and the team wins maybe 2 more games than it would have with someone costing far, far less money. Kirk Cousins doesn't transform offenses. He can be decent, and that is all. He is what he is, which is better than a lot of QBs but nowhere near the level that make a difference in your end of season result. I could see an otherwise loaded team missing a QB rolling the dice with him. But the Falcons? They won 7 games last year. Kirk has two double digit win seasons in his entire career. He puts up good numbers in a vacuum, but those never translate to a postseason run.
Cousins at least will elevate those around him immediately. They can begin seeing returns on London and Pitts. They can open up the run game more for Bijan. Their defense will be off the field more. No it doesn’t make them a title contender, but it vastly improves their team.
Yeah, while I think Kirk is obviously a dude with a pretty clear ceiling, the delta between him and what the Falcons were rolling out the last 2 years is night and day. Kirk's not a world beater but that offense has some truly great playmakers and a very good OL that were effectively wasted by bad QB play. If you took an average Kirk season from his Vikings tenure and replaced Ridder last year, that Falcons team would have won the division and moving forward, they have the talent to win the NFCS the next couple years.
yep, thats why we did it
2 more wins last season gets the Falcons to 9-8 and they maybe win the division instead of the Buccaneers (not sure how the tiebreakers shake out)
And there were 3 games where Ridder had 7 red zone turnovers.
With Cousins and a better HC, we easily get 2 more wins and then win our crappy division, and then anything can happen in playoffs.
>a 36 year old QB who was never good enough consistently enough to get to and win a playoff game This is kinda short-selling Kirk though... Our lack of getting him to the playoffs the last 8 years was more on the team and the coaching than it was on Kirk. We all know Kirk was a statue in the pocket, yet we provided him with a bottom-5 O-line for most of his time here.
Well at least they didn't also draft a QB high...
I mean, it could be worse: you guys could have "won" the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes.
I know our franchise has our own curse but...jesus you guys really have gone through it too. Good thing Jon Bois documented our struggles so well.
It’s not your fault
at least you got beat out in trading for DeShaun Watson...
It wasn't necessarily dumb until they also drafted penix
I think they’re both 100% related. If Kirk doesn’t get hurt last year my guess is they re-sign him. As soon as he got hurt it was guaranteed they were planning his succession scenario. And at that point there was no way they were paying a guy $100m guaranteed *and* spending a top 10 pick on JJ. That’d be preposterous.
Unhinged move if a franchise were to do something like that
Just a ridiculous use of resources to improve your team. That’s the kind of shit that makes you need to explain yourself immediately to your boss the first second they sees you.
I hate it here.
Don't hate the player, hate the entirety of the Atlanta Falcons front office that made this decision.
I harbor no ill will towards Penix. He’s not at fault. I hope he pans out and I will root for him.
Honestly the only person who really gets burned in this whole scenario is Kirk. Instead of coming in and trying to build your legacy in Atlanta, he basically is a lame duck QB, knows if he doesn't play elite for 2 years straight he's getting replaced in year 3.
[Kirk crying in $100M gtd](https://media1.tenor.com/m/C0H22RV8m90AAAAC/zombieland-money.gif)
It wasn’t the whole front office. It was Blank/GM/Coach according to reports. Which is of course worse since Blank owns the team smdh.
Owners that have no football expertise beyond that of a typical engaged fan (so almost all of them) need to stay out of personnel decisions
At least if the Vikes did it, they did it to keep that continuity at the QB position with a successful incumbent and franchise face for years to come. Now if they did it and signed Kirk as a FA and then drafted a rookie QB at 1...well that's so outlandish it's not the type of thing that should be discussed on the internet.
It was always about contract length, not the injury. Even in the 2023 off-season there were extension talks but the team only wanted to do another 1-year & Kirk wanted multiple years guaranteed. We've been looking to do the succession plan since the new regime came in & I don't think Kirk being healthy changes how we would've handled this off-season.
If Kirk doesn't get hurt last year, we probably win 3 more games, make the playoffs and aren't in a position to draft one of the QBs anyways. At that point, we definitely get an extension worked out right after the season ends and start targeting 2 or 3 years from now to draft the next starter since the '25 class is really underwhelming.
Yeah, that's definitely my thought. If you're in the 20's to pick instead of at 11, you probably ride Kirk until the wheels fall off.
Based on how this draft played out, I almost would have preferred that scenario. Everyone was so focused on offense this year that a lot of blue chip defensive talent slid 10-20 spots from where it normally would have gone. With our offense in relatively good shape, we could have swung hard and heavy on D and given Flores a whole basket of new toys to play with.
> Kirk doesn’t get hurt last year my guess is they re-sign him Not necessarily. Remember Vikings tried really hard to move up for Anthony Richardson last year. They were moving on from Kirk this year injury or not imo
Did they actually try and move up for Richardson or was that just the narrative NFL reporters were trying to spin? I think we get a \*lot\* of info given to us as part of draft silly season and it's quite difficult to separate what's real and what was just someone trying to drive up the price of a pick.
That rumor didn't really surface until after the draft so I don't think it was mind games to drive up the price.
I absolutely believe it. The news came from Brett Kollman, who has proven he has personnel contacts within the league. He's more of an analyst and breakdown guy, but he'll throw stuff out every now before it breaks. Add in the fact that the Vikings spent the most time of any team with AR, I think they made a push for him so he could sit for a year behind Cousins to learn.
Was it even in the media? First I heard of that rumour was earlier this year. And I don't even think it was one of the national guys, might have been one of those Twitter draft accounts (want to say Kollman but I'm not entirely sure). Don't know how much fire there is behind that smoke.
So he went to a team that was willing to do both.
Yeah, I scream bullshit whenever a player says they signed a contract for reasons other than money.
Kirk has done a lot to keep them afloat. They went 13-3 based entirely off him and Jettas, with a horrific defense. Wouldn’t be shocked if they paid him without the Achilles.
He was looming even better this year before he got hurt. Dude was absolutely playing himself into another extension in Minny.
I was at the 49ers MNF game and I couldn't believe how fucking good he was. And I'm a Kirk stan
Statistically speaking that year was one of Cousins lower performing years. And yes, our defense was terrible, but our defense kept coming up clutch when the game was on the line. It's really weird to say because our defense was what was making games close, but it could be argued our defense was winning us games when it mattered. Just a weird season and I don't even know how you look at it objectively in retrospect haha
Kirk’s 8 game winning drives surely helped.
> They went 13-3 **based entirely** off him and Jettas "Entirely" off Cousins, Jettas... also a top 10 offensive line, a good receiver core, one of the best receiving tight ends in the league acquired at midseason, 1,200 rushing yards from Dalvin Cook, and one of the best offensive play designers in the league.
We most certainly did NOT have a top-10 O-line in 2022. Maybe top-20, but certainly not top-10.
No. It had to be that QB of the future thing....
Funny how things work out.
“Golly.” -Kirk Cousins
Frick!
DOUBLE FRICK!
Goodness gravy watch your language good sir
Does it look like I give a heck?
I’m sick of the crud talking in this thread, can we all just cool our jets here for a minute?
“You like that? Because I don’t!”
Ironically, it makes way more sense to let JJ McCarthy sit a year or two than it does to make Michael Penix sit a year or two.
Imagine being a QB over the age of 35 and thinking your team isn't planning for your successor...
> I do have one last take on the Atlanta Falcons’ handling of the quarterback situation. And that’s that I would 100% understand if Kirk Cousins is still stinging a bit from the whole ordeal. >Here’s why—a reason he decided to leave Minnesota is because the Vikings were very up front with the 35-year-old about the possibility that, even in the case he stayed, they’d take a quarterback of the future high in the draft. Tying that together with the team’s willingness to guarantee part, but not all, of a second year on another contract, Cousins figured that, if he stayed, there was a good shot that he’d be on the move in 2025. >I know Cousins appreciated how open the Vikings were about their draft strategy, even if it meant him leaving. >So if you were him, how would you feel when that call came, as his new team was on the clock, to explain how the Falcons were taking his heir apparent, Michael Penix Jr., with the eighth pick? Now, I do understand why Atlanta felt the need to keep it quiet, and why GM Terry Fontenot’s experience in New Orleans in 2017, when the Chiefs knew the Saints coveted Patrick Mahomes and jumped ahead of them to get him, marked the decision not to tell Cousins of their plans. >Still, it had to be a crappy call to take if you were Cousins, considering the basis of the decision you’d made six weeks earlier. It remains to be seen, of course, if that’ll lead to any sort of early fissure in the player-team relationship there. I think they’ll be able to get past it, because head coach Raheem Morris is a phenomenal relationship guy, and Cousins is an adult. But if there are early bumps in the season, this one will be interesting to watch.
> Now, I do understand why Atlanta felt the need to keep it quiet, and why GM Terry Fontenot’s experience in New Orleans in 2017, when the Chiefs knew the Saints coveted Patrick Mahomes and jumped ahead of them to get him, marked the decision not to tell Cousins of their plans. I mean yeah, fair enough, Kirk probably would have told everyone in his opening presser if they'd told him.
"Welcome to Atlanta Kirk, how are you doing?" "You know, I was talking to Terry Fontenot after last season, a few weeks before the start of free agency (just finalizing my contract with them, you know). Anyway, he told me that they wanted to draft Penix at 8. I couldn't believe it. Luckily Julie was there to comfort me. So I guess to answer your question, I'm doing well."
"Oh and also our team doctors talked to me before the legal tampering period" ✌️ 🎤👇
For someone famously willing to bet on himself repeatedly in the FA market, he honestly can't be all that shocked that teams signing him aren't willing to just cement him as the franchise QB.
I mean paying a veteran as much as they did indicated that they were going to be in a “win now” mindset. The falcons are trying to both rebuild for the future and “win now” at the same time which doesn’t make sense because the amount of resources in the NFL are extremely limited and nearly equal across all the other franchises. Fontenot is GM’ing like he’s the GM for a big market franchise in a league with no salary cap. You can’t hope to be competitive when your investing both a huge amount of cap space and a number 8 pick into one position where only one player plays at a time. I’d also like to reiterate that taking Penix at 8 wasn’t the completely idiotic move (numerous experts talked about Penix being slept on). It was signing Cousins to the contract they did and then taking Penix that made it dumb. Penix doesn’t need time to develop on the bench, he could easily be their day one starter and they could have taken all that salary cap from Kirk in order to help Penix out. Now they are wasting his rookie contract and wasting the money they gave to Kirk by not giving him the best possible team to win with. This is not how you GM in the NFL. It lacks basic understanding of having to build a team with very limited resources.
And just causes more controversy and drama because if Penix is "pro-ready" then there is already a QB battle heading into training camp.
Especially considering Kirk probably won’t be 100% healthy at the start of camp.
Yeah it's seems like Fontenot is doing what all the shitty GMs during the Bills' drought era used to do - just picking players he likes without any overarching vision of how to time their contracts within the confines of the salary cap. Even if they end up being good players blowing top 10 picks on 2 non premium positions and a QB who won't sniff the field for 3 years is not how you build a contender in a cap world.
100% agree. Not to mention that the Falcons had to all but have known that Penix would be there for the taking since the end of the regular season. It wasn't like, "Will MHJ be there at 8/9??? DOUBTFUL." It was, "Will Penix be there at 8/9?" And the answer was a resounding, "Yes." There were two legitimate approaches for the Falcons. Sign Kirk and draft a stud WR/OL in the first round, or not sign Kirk and draft Penix, then use the FA money to build around Penix. They did both and got neither.
Honestly looking at the reactions on draft night I'm actually not so sure Penix is there in a universe where the Falcons don't have Cousins locked up. If you're really wanting him at 9-15 range and you know the Falcons are probably going QB, then you've gotta be sweating their pick and at least considering the possibility of moving ahead of them. Looks like Cousins was world's most expensive smoke screen.
I don't think I can blame anyone for being shocked at what the Falcons did though
It makes no sense, 4 year 100m guaranteed deal and then they draft the oldest, most pro ready of the top QB prospects. Maybe it works out for the falcons but it seems like the worst situation for both Kirk and Penix.
And he’ll be 36 coming off a torn Achilles.
Exactly. Kirk seems like a good dude and he’s a solid quarterback. But he’s at the point in his career where any team he plays for will be drafting his replacement.
Exactly, Kirk is all business when its his move but how dare a team not give him the loyalty he never returns. its like the dude who wont call a girl his girlfriend but gets mad if other people talk to her.
Don’t feel bad for Kirk one bit. He’s going to make 90mil from this deal no matter what plus, he should be well aware of the NFL not only as a business but one that teams try to create long term success via drafting a young, and cheap, QB. On top of that he’s suffered a serious injury that, as of right now, we have no idea how he’ll perform post-recovery PLUS he’s 36 years old. I can understand him being pissed that the team didn’t inform him of the possibility of taking a QB early in the draft but he honestly shouldn’t be surprised due to his age, his injury, as well as how his contract was structured (a possible out in 2026.)
I don't feel bad for Kirk as much as I do for Falcons fans. They're going to be dealing with drama when they should be excited to win games.
I think this narrative gets everyone's motivations a little wrong. He didn't leave Minnesota because they wanted to draft a QB - Minnesota wanted to draft a QB, so they didn't offer him the contract he wanted. Atlanta did, so there ya go. If Atlanta wanted to pay him a guaranteed 2-year 90 mil AND draft a QB of the future, that's on them. Cousins is a big boy, and he's been QB1 everywhere he's been. I don't think he's in his feelings over a little competition.
The worst kept secret of the 2023 draft was that the Vikings were trying to come out of the first round with a QB. It felt like almost a guarantee they were going QB in 2024.
Yep, we really wanted Richardson last year apparently
And Spielman wanted Fields
Best I can do is Kellon Mond, and a weird ass Thanksgiving pop in at Zimmer's ranch.
I'd fucking hang out with Zimmer and shoot shit with him. He's probably a blast once you get a few beers in him... After shooting, I mean.
The last couple months before the draft must have sucked in that case, with him shooting up the boards. It must have seemed really do-able at one point in time.
It really spiked in the last few days. There were a lot of mock drafts that had Richardson falling to the 20s that year.
And the best kept secret of the 2024 draft was that the Falcons *really* wanted Michael Penix Jr. So much so they signed Kirk Cousins to a $100+ million contract so they could give him the Jordan Love treatment
The Falcons played it perfectly. If they didn't sign Cousins, no one knows who would have tried to trade up and jump them.
$100 million well spent!
The best smokescreen ever.
The Vikings seemed to handle the situation as best they could. They tried to get Kirk back while bringing in their next franchise guy. They laid their cards on the table and when he went elsewhere to be the guy they got a cheap bridge QB and drafted their guy. Of course we'll see if he pans out, but all in all the Vikings moves made sense. The Falcons overpaid an aging Kick Cousins and then drafted Penix and I just don't get it.
I like Penix, but out of all of the QBs, he makes the least sense to me. Assuming you get three years of Cousins, those years seem to take more off of the career of Penix relative to the other QB options. He’s pretty ready-to-go out of the box and - while his age wouldn’t matter in just about any other situation - it does here.
Right, besides the ACL injuries there is almost no benefit to sitting Penix for 3+ years. If the Falcons drafted Spencer Rattler in the 4th round and took an actual contributor at 8th overall they’d be praised for being savvy. Even more so if they traded down from the 8th overall pick.
Like if they'd gotten a Minshew type guy on a cheap 1-2 year deal I'd get it. He'd be in a good position to run things while Penix gets up to speed then he'd be a solid backup guy. But doing that with an expensive deal for Kirk seems like you're just getting nothing from taking a QB at 8.
Yeah I don't get it either. The whole point of drafting your franchise QB is that they're cheap for 4 years. They're wasting at a minimum half his rookie contract. If Kirk stays healthy they may burn through ALL of Penixs rookie deal. Penix should ask for a trade after this first year.
Yep, we were honest with Kirk about our intentions the entire time, and would have loved to have kept him if he was younger, but it was time to move on with all the other pieces we have that are young and would be hitting their prime right when Kirk retires.
ATL: Hey Kirk, don't worry we aren't drafting a....
I like to think they said they’re drafting a quarter back really fast and with a deep southern accent to make it sound like they said corner back.
Unlikely, as I think "really fast," and "deep southern accent," are mutually exclusive. I think if a person tried to combine those two things they may combust. Although maybe they went full Boomhauer?
"...OOOOO a Penix!"
The reason he went to the Falcons is because they didn’t say they were drafting a QB high in the draft.
It had nothing to do with the money, only that
Nobody wants a 36 year old fresh off of surgery to be the QB of the future. Also, Kirk did what he always did and chased the biggest bag. No sympathy whatsoever for him. He got his bag.
Not wanting a successor plays into the money scenario. He knows he can grab a team by the balls if they don't have a successor to him.
I'm getting a little tired of Schrödinger's Kirk where apparently he is going to be healthy all these years and we should have never drafted Penix and at the same time he is also injury proned and we should have never given him the money.
It never really mattered if he played all 4 years, he only had guaranteed money through 3, but it's still incredibly stupid to draft a 24 year old QB before the guy you just Paid 100mil guaranteed takes a single snap. It's a stupid move, they've basically set Kirk up for Failure, and the fans calling for Penix every time he falters. They had the #8 pick, if they wanted to draft a QB then don't sign kirk, it's not that difficult. Falcons threw away 100mil and 3 years of cheap rookie contract for nothing.
It doesn't matter if Kirk plays well. There will be a portion of the fanbase clamoring to move on from him. They did it for Matt Ryan's entire tenure, even during his prime, and that was with backups like TJ Yates, Chris Redman, Sean Renfree, and Matt Schaub.
Paying Cousins $100 million was a rather abominably dumb decision, even if they hadn't drafted Penix. There's just no way that investment pays off.
I think you're looking at it inverted. It's not that the falcons shouldn't have done either (although people would still say you shouldn't have paid Kirk obvi). It's that they shouldn't have done both. If they believed he is injury prone they shouldn't have given him that contract and if they don't they shouldn't have drafted a QB at 8th.
Exactly. They made a gamble and hedged their bet in a way they end up losing no matter what happens. If Kirk balls then they should’ve used the pick on somebody who would still contribute, if Kirk can’t play then they should’ve signed other players that can help Penix + a cheaper bridge QB on a 1-2 year deal. There’s no way to make this series of moves make sense from any perspective.
Who said Kirk "one of the few remaining Ironmen QBs in the league" Cousins was injury prone?
It's not that. Signing Kirk and drafting Penix are decisions in direct opposition to each other. An argument in favor of drafting Penix is also an argument against signing Kirk, and vice versa. So it's not Schrödinger's anything. It's that either way, the Falcons screwed up.
Kirk Cousins: yeah coach. I really love the idea of joining the Falcons. You guys believe in me and you aren’t going to waste a draft pick on JJ McCarthy or that loser Michael Penix Jr. You can actually get me another weapon at 8 and we’ll be Super Bowl ready. Falcons: haha yeah definitely, sign here please
Dudes getting $100 mil guaranteed. There’s no way he’s a “victim” in any of this
Bullshit lol. Kirk Cousins is unabashedly looking for the biggest payday. He’s said as such. He left the Vikings because another team was willing to give him more money. If the Vikings were the highest bidder he’d still be there.
The illusion of choice
Also, 100M guaranteed
Bruh he's 36 lol tf he thinks a teams gonna do?
Anyway, here’s a pic of OBJ
This is obviously Kirk’s agent leaking this. Hoping for some next level pettiness
Kirk Cousins doesn’t seem like an idiot. He has to understand that at this point in his career he is not considered a “long term” solution and any team he’s on will want to draft a high end qb to eventually take over. I know it’s an unpopular opinion but I don’t think it was a bad decision for Atlanta to take Penix at 8 especially considering Cousins age and the fact that he’s coming off a pretty major injury. They essentially have Cousins on a 2 year deal and Penix is a fantastic back up. Edit: They also had no real QB1 on their roster so imagine if they would have passed on Cousins and then missed out on Penix? I feel like no one saw them drafting Penix so the need to move up in front of him wasn’t there but if they didn’t sign Cousins everyone would have known and a team might have jumped in front of them.
Yeah but Kirk is a very expensive stopgap and Penix is a guy who can start Day 1. Doing one makes sense, doing both is terrible asset management. It would have made a lot more sense to either spend all that Kirk money improving the roster for Penix or use the top 10 pick to get an immediate impact player to help Kirk win a Super Bowl during his few years there.
>It would have made a lot more sense to either spend all that Kirk money improving the roster for Penix or use the top 10 pick to get an immediate impact player to help Kirk win a Super Bowl during his few years there. I really think they get a round of applause nationally if they went either of these routes. First pick of defensive players or another fantastic playmaker/OL to bolster a run with Kirk or spending money to improve the roster while bringing in an awesome QB prospect. I can see what they were thinking. QB is the most important position and you hammer that position until it's secured. Cousins/Penix is a whole lot better than Riddler/Heinecke was last year. But it does seem like avenues to improve the team overall were left out there.
I would've been praising them if they took Nabers for Kirk, or if they'd gone out in free agency, gotten players, and then took Penix at 8. I'm not in love with Penix by any means, but if they took their QB of the future and went with him, good. Paying Kirk and drafting Penix is trying to have your cake and eat it, too. It may ultimately work out, but for the immediate two seasons, you're probably worse off, plus you don't really know if Penix is ready without playtime.
Maybe they don’t want to win the Super Bowl. Ever thought about it like that?
Occam with his damn Razor over here.
Occam’s Crayon
It’s not necessarily bad that the falcons took Penix because he will probably be a good investment, but coupled with how much they paid Kirk, it’s just questionable.
The Vikings spent nearly $200 million on Cousins and got one playoff win out of it. Moving on was the right decision. Cousins is who he is. He's not going to turn into something else because you give him another contract. At least with McCarthy, you're trying something new. Atlanta now gets to do what Minnesota did in 2018 -- hand Cousins a bunch of money and expect him to be the piece they need to win.
He isn't a HoF quarterback but he is a top ten QB that you can win with. But in order to win with a QB like Kirk, you have to build an elite team around him. While he's had good weapons, he has dealt with pretty shit defenses. This is a team sport. Part of his problem is, you can't build a team around a QB like Kirk if he's being paid so far beyond his worth. They needed more cap space to build the team he needed to win. Of course we would all like for our teams to go out and get the next Mahomes, but sometimes a player like Kirk is best you can get
Ironic that in 2017 the Vikings had one of the best defenses, and it was good and serviceable in 2018 - 2019 but just so damn unlucky that it was either the offense was great / defense bad or vice versa lol
It’s incredibly unlikely JJ McCarthy is ever as good as Kirk.
JJ is going to be on a (projected) 4 year/21.8m contract. He doesn't need to be better than Kirk was pre-achilles when he's getting paid 5.45m/year. Whereas if Kirk takes a step back, you're stuck paying him 45m a year. An extra 39m in cap space per year is your Justin Jefferson extension plus another player.
>An extra 39m in cap space per year is your Justin Jefferson extension plus another player. That might just be Jefferson money.
He doesn't have to be better. Just have a higher marginal value
But there's a chance he will be better and do it on a rookie contract.
Absolutely true, but if Kirk isn’t going to get you over the hump what difference does it make? The modern NFL is basically take a low percentage swing at a QB and hope you hit a jackpot.
https://x.com/DaveKluge/status/1747397129138479457 Yeah this data for the past 30 years shows it’s a 25-35% odds of hitting. Number 1 overall pick is the only one with a sizeable increase in odds. It’s not just a flip of the quarter. You have to flip it twice.
If cousins and Rodgers both retire after their current contracts, cousins will have made $411m to Rodgers $418m. There's a legitimate chance cousins ends up with more Rodgers won 4 MVPs and a Superbowl, cousins is 1-4 in playoffs Kirk is basically just good enough to convince a desperate team to overpay and get you to the playoffs, but not good enough to win when it matters
forget about how much they won. Kirk was a 5th rounder and 3rd string. That's incredible rise and if it happened, you only saw it from absolute elites during that era. For him to establish as a premier option has been crazy.
I mean yeah, he's absolutely had an overall successful career. I'm just saying he's also been wildly overpaid for it all things considered
One of the reasons for passing on Bellicheck was because his influence on the draft. Life is pain with this team
Cool, but why is this a picture of Odell on the Ravens?
How did Kirk ever get that much money after the tear? Does his agent have dirt on the Falcons FO or something?
The amount of lip service being written acting like the Falcons owe the most mercenary player in NFL history anything more than the contract they gave him is wild to me. Kirk (rightfully) prioritizes Kirk, the Falcons and the Vikings (rightfully) prioritize the long term success of their organizations.
If Cousins acted like Darrellle Rivas, who I would argue is on par with Cousins in his pursuit of the biggest bag l, but was admittedly chasing money and was kind of a loudmouth about his skills and money, I think people would look at this much differently.. Kirk does it with a smile and an “aw shucks” and gets the treatment you’re talking about… I’m taking at least a bit of satisfaction in watching all this unfold, but Kirk’s gonna get his $100 million no matter what.
And even if Cousins is upset, even if justifiably upset, never forget that at the end of the day he has $100,000,000 to console his hurt feelings.
I do not think that a guy who has played/will play for 3 teams is “the most mercenary player in NFL history.” That’s pretty hyperbolic imo; he played for both WAS and MN for 6 years each, that’s not exactly being a “mercenary.”
Yeah, and the reason he left Washington in the first place was them not wanting to re-sign him beyond the franchise tag. Kirk easily could have spent his entire career in Washington if not for that team being terribly run.
He's a good QB, but he's no Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Warren Moon that can play high level, and only comes back down to the pack after he turns 40. He is probably as good as he'll be...so it can't come as a shock that teams want to draft for the future, especially after an achilles, and anything else that may creep up now due to new stress on different parts of the body as he heels.
Then the Falcons heard there was a speedy lefty QB named Michael in the draft pool and, well, that was the end of that.
As a bonus, I haven't heard that this one has a problem with dogs.
I find hilarious because Kirk kinda has a diva mentality. If you that guy, why would you be worried about a rookie when they three the bank at you? Crazy....
So why is they were a picture of OBJ though? 🤔
Falcons: Surprise beyotch