Falcons 'Comfortable' with QB Cap Situation Despite Kirk Cousins Contract

The Atlanta Falcons are comfortable entering the 2025 season with Kirk Cousins and his $37.5 million contract sitting on the bench.

The roster status of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins is in question moving forward. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said after the season he's comfortable with Kirk Cousins staying in Atlanta as the team's backup quarterback.

But to be comfortable with Cousins, a four-time Pro Bowler who was benched just 14 starts into his Falcons tenure, is to be comfortable with paying him an additional $10 million roster bonus March 17, which means he'd earn $37.5 million overall in 2025.

And still, Fontenot says he's comfortable with Michael Penix Jr. starting under center on his rookie deal with the 36-year-old Cousins behind him.

"The allocation at the quarterback position, the cap allocation, is we're eighth in the league. That's what we had planned for where Kirk is the starter," Fontenot said Jan. 9. "He's not the starter anymore, but we're very comfortable moving forward with him as a backup."

Fontenot said Cousins showed great character in the aftermath of his benching, supporting Penix and the rest of his teammates while handling the adverse situation with class -- and thus giving Atlanta confidence Cousins can be a backup moving forward.

Financially, Fontenot believes the Falcons are in the same position regardless of who starts. The money doesn't differ, but the pecking order does. At surface level, having both Cousins and Penix on the roster is still the financial plan Atlanta embraced last offseason, he said.

"Completely different situations -- I know Kirk's the backup now, but we planned to have that cap allocation at that position with him as the starter," Fontenot said. "So now, it's been flipped and now he's the backup. And obviously, Mike is the starter now, but we believe we're going to get high-level quarterback play.

"So, completely different situations, I would say."

The Falcons gave Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract in March of 2024. The first two years of his deal were fully guaranteed to net $90 million, and his $10 million roster bonus seemed a foregone conclusion.

Fontenot said contracts like that come with the expectation of high-level quarterback play for two seasons. Atlanta received such contributions for around half of Cousins's 14 starts.

Cousins completed 66.9% of his passes for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, which led the NFL at the time of his benching. Over his final five starts, Cousins threw only one touchdown to nine interceptions while the Falcons went 1-4.

Atlanta recognized Cousins hadn't delivered the level of play it expected, so it accelerated Penix's development plan, thrusting him into action for the final three games. He inspired confidence he's the Falcons' long-term option under center, going 58-for-100 passing for 737 yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions and one rushing score.

So, Atlanta ended the regular season with Penix on the field and Cousins on the bench -- but both on the roster and under salary.

As a result, the Falcons have one of the NFL's cheapest starting quarterbacks, and perhaps the league's most expensive backup.

Has the Fontenot-led Falcons front office used cap resources inefficiently? The numbers say so -- but he doesn't. At least not publicly.

"You go to that point when we made the decision on signing Kirk Cousins, you can't guarantee you're getting a rookie quarterback," Fontenot said. "We're picking at No. 8, so you can't guarantee you're going to get someone that's going to be ready to go in and play. And again, that's why we made that decision at that time.

"All that said, this is where we are at this point. What we have to do is look at areas that we can improve this team and work around whatever limitations we have."

The limitations are evident. The Falcons rank No. 28 in salary cap space entering this offseason, as they're currently $9.76 million over budget, according to OverTheCap.

And yet, as Fontenot embarks on his fifth free agency period and draft process as Atlanta's general manager, he's unbothered by the red salary number and the possibility of having $37.5 million watching from the sidelines next fall -- or paying Cousins some $27.5 million to play for another team.

"We're comfortable where we are," Fontenot said. "Now, we have to make sure that we can be creative and find ways to build this team the right way."