“I brought Kirk in here with full expectation that we could win a championship with Kirk and we’d be able to compete with Kirk,” Morris explained on Wednesday. “For whatever reason, whatever happened the last couple of weeks, it just hasn’t felt that way. It was time to make a change.
“Any time you take a step down or a demotion at work, it’s not going to be met with great appreciation and all those things. But Kirk was a professional, he’s a pro, he’s a man, he’s a great human, he’s a great father, he’s a great football player, he’s done a lot of great things for us this year. He handled it with class. He’s an absolute professional. … But obviously it comes with some disappointment when you lose your job.”
To his credit, Cousins drew appreciation from Morris, who admitted “we’ve got to play better at the position … and that’s why we made the decision to do that last night.”
Cousins even called Penix to talk about the change Tuesday night, telling reporters, “I like to shoot elephants in the room.”
There’s no telling exactly what this means for Cousins’ future in Atlanta. A number of different roster scenarios could see the Falcons part with him, incurring a range of cap penalties over the short and/or long term. They could also keep him as a high-priced backup while Penix — who was considered by many to be the most pro-ready quarterback of the 2024 draft class — mans the starting job, though such a decision seems unlikely.
Atlanta will attempt to sort that out later while using the evidence it’s about to start collecting in the Falcons’ final three games of the 2024 regular season. Should Penix succeed, Atlanta could end up in the playoffs and have its answer for the future. That certainly isn’t guaranteed at this juncture, though.
What matters most is the immediate results. After a season spent watching Cousins from the sideline, Morris believes Penix will produce.
“We had been searching,” Morris said when asked why he made the change now. “We had been digging as much as we can dig in order to make things work and try to get things going. Just last night came to the point, just wanted to make the decision to make the move. We wanted to play a little better at quarterback, and we felt like we got a chance to play a little bit better. If we can go out there and play better at quarterback, who knows what could happen, you know?
“I don’t think anything is ever permanent in the National Football League, but right now Michael Penix is our quarterback, and we’re gonna back him and give him the utmost support he needs as we did Kirk when he was our starter.”
If Penix makes good on his coach’s confidence in him, it will kick off an era most didn’t see coming for at least a year or two. It will also give those who supported the selection of Penix a massive win over the scores of folks who chastised the Falcons for taking the Washington product less than two months after handing Cousins a $180 million contract.
Cousins, meanwhile, will be left to pick up the pieces — and the dollars paid to him by the Falcons — while finding a new place to play football. As he said Wednesday, yes, he didn’t play well enough to keep his job. That doesn’t mean his career is finished, though.
“I didn’t forget how to play quarterback,” Cousins said. “Certainly, the turnovers were not what you want, but I didn’t forget how to play.”