According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Falcons QB Kirk Cousins has signaled to other teams that he plans to wait until after the draft before waiving his no-trade clause.
Breer says Cousins would prefer to avoid a similar situation to last year when he signed with Atlanta only to have the rug pulled out from under him when they drafted QB Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick.
He adds an exception could be made if a team interested in Cousins commits to not drafting a quarterback in the first round.
The Browns, Giants and Steelers are all nosing around the current veteran quarterback market and Breer writes it’s possible at least one of those teams will still need a starter after the draft, or could prefer to pursue Cousins.
The Falcons elected to keep Cousins rather than cutting him, allowing another $10 million to become guaranteed in 22026, and Breer points out another major obstacle to a trade is negotiating with Atlanta to take on some of Cousins’ $27.5 million salary this year.
Despite all this, Cousins has reportedly generated some preliminary trade interest for the Falcons.
Cousins, 36, is a former fourth-round pick of Washington back in 2012. He played out the final year of his rookie contract before being franchised in back-to-back seasons.
Cousins later departed in free agency for a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings. He was entering the final year of his contract in 2020 when he agreed to a two-year, $66 million contract extension. In 2021, he agreed to a new one-year, $35 million contract extension that was also fully guaranteed.
He was in the final year of that deal in 2023 and was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent when signing with the Falcons this offseason. He inked a four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed.
In 2024, Cousins appeared in 14 games for the Falcons and completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.
We’ll have more on Cousins as the news is available.
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