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After forcing Arthur Smith to suffer through a season with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinecke at quarterback, the Atlanta Falcons set out for significant changes to their QB depth chart in 2024. The biggest move the Falcons made was signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year contract worth up to $180 million.
Yet, an even bigger surprise came just over a month later when the Falcons doubled down at the QB position and made Michael Penix Jr. the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. In a perfect world, Cousins would have helped take a bottom-tier Falcons offense that ranked 26th in scoring a season ago to one that ranked in the top ten in 2024.
Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happened during his first year in Atlanta. Instead, the Falcons enter Week 16 with the 21st-ranked scoring offense, and Cousins leads the NFL with 16 interceptions. His latest effort was a dud, delivering just 112 yards to go with one touchdown and one interception, with the Falcons scoring just 15 points against a bottom-feeding Raiders team.
Fans were already calling for Cousins to be benched in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s performance, but Falcons coach Raheem Morris never wavered. Each week when facing the media, Morris always threw 100% support behind Cousins as his starting quarterback. But not this time, not after Sunday’s near-loss.
Related: See where Kirk Cousins lands in Sportsnaut’s NFL QB Rankings
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With the Atlanta Falcons still scratching and clawing for a playoff spot, each week is more important than the last. They can’t afford to have more lackluster performances from their starting quarterback, but now Michael Penix Jr. replaces Kirk Cousins for Week 16’s matchup against the New York Giants.
The math:🏈If the Falcons were to cut Kirk Cousins prior to the start of the 2025 league year, they would have $65 million in dead money.
🏈If they were to trade him, the $27.5M base salary guarantee would transfer over to the acquiring team, so then the Falcons would just be…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 18, 2024
So far, Penix has only received snaps during garbage time, when the Falcons were down big. This has limited him to just two games, where he’s completed 3-of-5 passes for 38 yards, picking up a first down on all three completions. He also took one sack for a loss of zero yards.
Fans are itching to see what their QB of the future can do in Atlanta, but benching Cousins could have a drastically negative effect on their chances to trade him elsewhere this offseason, surely tanking his trade value. It should also be noted that he has a full no-trade clause, which allows him to have some say in where he plays in 2025.
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