So much for the good memories shared by Kirk Cousins and Kevin Stefanski.
The Falcons will release Cousins on the first day of the new league year, general manager Ian Cunningham said Tuesday on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta as the NFL combine kicked off.
“Out of respect for Kirk and Michael [Penix Jr.], felt like that was the right decision,” Cunningham said on the radio.
Thus ends one of the worst contracts in NFL history: Cousins earned $100 million for 22 starts (12-10 record) and 28 touchdown passes.
The Falcons will carry his $24.6 million cap figure into June, and then the dead money will be $22.5 million in 2026 and $12.5 million in 2027, according to Spotrac. There is $10 million worth of offsets attached to the contract if he signs for that amount or more elsewhere.
Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million contract to leave the Vikings for the Falcons in March 2024, but then-Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot drafted Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick before Cousins made it to his first OTAs.
It angered Cousins and created an awkward ticking-clock dynamic.
Penix Jr. eventually replaced Cousins for the 15th game of his rookie season, after Cousins’ hot start to the season faded while dealing with an injury. Cousins spent last season as the most expensive backup quarterback in NFL history.
Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris were fired after last season, and Cunningham and head coach Kevin Stefanski were welcomed. Stefanski was the Vikings quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator for Cousins’ first two seasons with the Vikings (2018-19) before he became the Browns head coach.
But a fresh start was needed for all, even with the Falcons expected to look for competition for Penix Jr. rather than just hand him the job after an underwhelming 2024 season, marred by missed time to a player who entered the draft with a long injury history.
Cousins, 37, immediately becomes an attractive option for a win-now team on a quarterback-barren free-agent market. The Steelers, Vikings and Colts all fit the bill.
Cousins nearly signed with the Jets in 2019, but a lot has changed since then. What hasn’t changed is the Jets still need a starting quarterback – unless the plan is stick with Justin Fields – but they seem to be a long way off from contention.