ATLANTA — Quarterback Kirk Cousins hasn’t won many playoff games in his career (1-3), but he’s done well in landing lucrative deals.
Cousins’ latest is a four-year, $180 million contract — including $100 million guaranteed — with the Atlanta Falcons, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. After making over $230 million during his time with the Minnesota Vikings (2018-23) and Washington (2012-17), he will top $400 million in career earnings if he plays all four years in Atlanta.
It didn’t take the Falcons long to address a QB situation that has been in flux since they traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in March 2022. Neither Desmond Ridder nor Taylor Heinicke proved to be the answer for a team that fought for a playoff berth until the final week last season.
Atlanta fired head coach Arthur Smith and offensive coordinator Dave Ragone after finishing 7-10 for the third straight season, hiring Raheem Morris as head coach and Zac Robinson as offensive coordinator.
How will Cousins fit in the offense? What will the Vikings do at quarterback? And how does this — as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers landing Russell Wilson — affect the market for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, who is expected to be moved to pave the way for the Bears to draft USC’s Caleb Williams?
Falcons reporter Michael Rothstein, Vikings reporter Kevin Seifert and Bears reporter Courtney Cronin answer the most important questions.
How much better will Cousins make Atlanta’s offense?
Rothstein: It might be difficult to measure the true impact until August or September, because Cousins is coming off a right Achilles injury, but he immediately becomes the Falcons’ best option at the position since Ryan was traded.
Cousins is a four-time Pro Bowler with a career completion percentage of 66.9. Young Atlanta offensive playmakers such as wide receiver Drake London, running back Bijan Robinson and running back Tyler Allgeier have never played with a quarterback of Cousins’ caliber. Tight end Kyle Pitts saw only glimpses as a rookie during Ryan’s final season in 2021.
Cousins has shown he can be clutch, too. Since becoming a starter in 2015, his 27 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime are tied with Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford for second most in the league, behind Derek Carr’s 33, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
How will Cousins fit with first-time offensive coordinator Zac Robinson?
Rothstein: Robinson was coy when asked about the type of offense Atlanta will run, but he has spent his entire coaching career with the Los Angeles Rams, so there will be clear Sean McVay influences. Last season, the Rams ran 583 passing plays to 477 running plays. Figure there will be a similar balance considering the Falcons have two strong, young backs in Robinson and Allgeier and are in the midst of remaking their wide receiver room.
Cousins attempted 643 passes in his last full season in 2022, and he attempted 311 in eight games before being injured last year.
The Rams ran play-action about one-fifth of the time they threw the ball, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and that’s one of Cousins’ strengths. Last season, when using play-action, Cousins completed 70.3% of his passes (64-of-91 for 615 yards, 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions).
How does this affect the rest of Atlanta’s QB and free agency plans?
Rothstein: Bringing in Cousins should take Atlanta out of play for a top quarterback in this year’s draft, especially considering the team’s other needs. Sitting at No. 8, this could allow the Falcons to snag a high-level edge rusher, cornerback or receiver — three pressing needs.
The money involved with Cousins’ deal, and the exact breakdown for cap purposes, remains to be seen. It might hinder Atlanta from going after many more big-time free agents, but the Falcons can use contract restructures and cap casualty cuts to create more space if necessary.
That might start in the quarterback room. Atlanta has three quarterbacks at the moment — Cousins, Ridder and Heinicke. Ridder is in the third year of his rookie deal and would offer just under $1 million in cap savings if released. Heinicke has a cap hit of $8.96 million for 2024, and if he’s released, Atlanta would save $6.96 million against the cap, according to Roster Management System. There’s also a $1.32 million bonus due to Heinicke if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the new league year (March 18).
Even with the Cousins deal done, Atlanta needs to find pass-catchers. London is the only wide receiver on the roster who caught a pass for the Falcons last season.
What does this mean for the direction of the Vikings?
Seifert: This marks a massive turning point in the Vikings’ “competitive rebuild,” the term that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has used to describe his approach to retooling the roster he inherited when he was hired in early 2022. The idea, he said at the time, was to continue to play “meaningful” games in December — in other words, compete for a playoff spot — while acquiring and developing young players to eventually promote into significant roles.
As long as Cousins was on the roster, the Vikings could credibly claim to be doing both. Without him, and with the likelihood they’ll be looking to draft his replacement in April, it’s quite possible they’ll take a competitive step backward in the short term. But this move had to be made at some point soon, as Cousins approaches his 36th birthday, and Adofo-Mensah wasn’t willing to bet that he would continue playing at a high level for the two years the Falcons were willing to fully guarantee. They’ll use the financial flexibility they gain to accelerate improvements in other areas of the roster.
Who will fill the QB void in Minnesota?
Seifert: The Vikings have two quarterbacks under contract, Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall. Both struggled at times last season after Cousins suffered a season-ending right Achilles injury. The team has been targeting the 2024 draft for several years, according to Adofo-Mensah, as it timed out Cousins’ departure. But if they don’t move up from their spot at No. 11, it’s likely they will miss out on at least the first three quarterbacks drafted and possibly the top five. It’s expected that they’ll sign a veteran who could serve as a bridge starter — perhaps Sam Darnold, Joe Flacco or Ryan Tannehill — and give strong consideration to trading up in the draft as well.
What does this — and the Steelers landing Russell Wilson — mean for Justin Fields’ market?
Cronin: It makes an already soft trade market appear even less fertile. A league source told ESPN the Bears initially believed they could get a second-round pick, but that feels incredibly unlikely now considering how many QBs have agreed to deals.
Minnesota needs a new quarterback, but dealing a young quarterback to a division rival is risky. Las Vegas is in search of a quarterback, but do the Raiders really want to pair Fields with his former offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy, after two years of lackluster results? The Broncos need a starter after cutting Wilson. With former Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who was drafted four spots after Fields in 2021, being traded to Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick to back up Trevor Lawrence, the Bears need to widen their pool to find a trade partner and take what they can for Fields, even if it’s a Day 3 pick.
That is, assuming they still want to follow the plan to “do right” by Fields — as GM Ryan Poles said at the combine — and not have him live in limbo. In an ideal world, Chicago could keep Fields and a rookie quarterback drafted No. 1 overall on the roster throughout the offseason and trade the 25-year-old when an injury takes out a starter. The best-case scenario would mirror what Philadelphia did in 2016 when it traded Sam Bradford to Minnesota after Teddy Bridgewater went down with a knee injury days ahead of the season kickoff. The Eagles got back a first- and fourth-round pick for Bradford.