Kirk Cousins on Being a Highly Paid Backup: ‘You Gotta Be Resilient’

Cousins was benched for Michael Penix late last season, and the Falcons explored trading him this offseason.

Michael Penix Jr. (#9) of the Atlanta Falcons with fellow quarterback Kirk Cousins during offseason workouts in Flowery Branch, Ga., on May 14, 2024. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Ever since Kirk Cousins lost his starting job with the Atlanta Falcons to Michael Penix Jr. last season, there’s been speculation that Atlanta would trade away the veteran. At 36, Cousins wants to start and not hold a clipboard, but no trade has materialized this offseason. That has Cousins in an uncomfortable spot: He’s still on a team that doesn’t view him as a starter—a team he’d clearly like to leave.

Cousins has been mum on his situation in Atlanta and was not present for the team’s voluntary offseason team activities (OTAs) in May. However, he did appear at mandatory minicamp this week, where he finally broke his silence on his situation.

“Obviously, you would love to play,” Cousins told the media on Tuesday. “But I am not going to dwell on things that are not reality. That’s not the situation I am in. So it’s better spent to be focused on the situation I am in, controlling what you can control. I think that is the right mindset to have…

“You gotta be resilient. Life’s gonna have some curveballs, and you just have to keep moving. I think the key is that you don’t pout or stop, you just keep moving and working forward. I believe if you do that, good things will happen.”

Cousins certainly sounded like a team-first guy and mentioned how his goal is a team goal—to be holding up the Lombardi Trophy in February—which is something neither Cousins nor the Falcons franchise has ever achieved.

The Falcons are open to trading away Cousins, but it takes two to tango. All of the teams with starting quarterback openings have filled them either early in free agency, through the NFL draft, or just this week in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers.

A huge sticking point in a potential deal is Cousins’s $27.5 million salary, part of the four-year, $180 million deal he signed with Atlanta before the 2024 season. Of that contract, $90 million is guaranteed, and combined with his $12.5 million signing bonus, his cap hit is $40 million for this season. That’s tied for sixth-most among all quarterbacks, but none of the players ahead of him are in backup roles.

Last season, his first in Atlanta, started off well as the team had a 6-3 record through nine games, with Cousins having a 17:7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Then, Cousins’ body betrayed him as he went 1-4 over his last five starts and had an unsightly 1:9 touchdown-to-interception ratio over that stretch. After the year, Cousins revealed that he played through elbow and shoulder injuries over those last five games, and his downturn in production certainly indicates so.

With Atlanta’s playoff hopes dwindling down the stretch, the team replaced Cousins with Penix, the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft. The Falcons won Penix’ first start but lost in Weeks 17 and 18 to miss out on the postseason. Once the team turned the page to the rookie, there was no turning back, which is the situation Cousins is now in, with him starting a season as a backup for the first time since being Robert Griffin III’s backup with Washington in the 2014 season.

Even though he’s in an unfamiliar and unwanted position, Cousins is sticking with his team-first philosophy. He was asked about Penix, and Cousins said all the right things.

“Michael’s gonna do great. He’s gonna have a great career. He’s off to a great start. He’s got all the tangibles and intangibles you need to be successful, and I’m just here to support him as he needs it,” Cousins said.

“But I also don’t need to be in his ear so much that I’m sort of another weight, another voice. I just want to be a support and he knows that. Obviously, we’re in close proximity on the field and in meetings, so we have great conversations. I can learn from him just like he can learn from me. That’s how a good quarterback room always should be.”

Cousins’s comments are in stark contrast to what another veteran quarterback said recently in regard to the young QBs on his team. Joe Flacco is the elder statesman in the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback room, after the team just drafted both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. However, Flacco publicly said he isn’t taking a back seat and looking to simply mentor the young signal callers. He’s competing for the Browns’ starting job and expects Gabriel and Sanders to pick up things from watching him.