While Cousins seems likely to be traded when the dust settles, he’s keeping things business as usual until then.
I don’t think many fans or even Atlanta Falcons team officials really expected Kirk Cousins to report to voluntary workouts today. Raheem Morris said himself that he didn’t expect it. After all, the start of the team’s offseason program is not mandatory, and Cousins is both A) the subject of nonstop trade rumors and B) reportedly looking to go elsewhere so he can start.
Yet there he was Tuesday, which I do give the veteran quarterback credit for. On the off chance that Cousins is with the team throughout the 2025 season, any work he can get in and any way he can work to smooth our tensions are a plus, and it helps Cousins with his case that he’s the reasonably party here.
The likeliest outcome, though, is still a trade. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported recently that teams have had conversations with the Falcons about a swap, but Schefter indicates the team is looking for a partner to take on $20 million of the $45 million remaining in guarantees. The team’s recent signing of Easton Stick as a quarterback option and the looming 2025 NFL Draft suggests the Falcons think they can either get a team to budge on that number or might be willing to take a better draft pick if a team picks up, say, half that total.
Schefter has suggested the Steelers and Vikings could be a pair of suitors if they only have to pick up $10 million; the Vikings know Cousins as well as anyone and the Steelers could leave draft weekend with a still-dire quarterback situation and no great appetite for “solving” it with Aaron Rodgers. It feels like during or after the draft, we may finally get some movement here.
In the meantime, Cousins is showing up and getting some work in, and that’s not a bad idea for the quarterback whether he’s in Atlanta or headed elsewhere. The Falcons will move forward with Michael Penix as their starter regardless.