Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons will almost undoubtedly part ways a year after signing him to a four-year, $180 million deal.
The Falcons signed Cousins hoping to bring a Super Bowl to Atlanta but benched him in favor of rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. in Week 16. As the speculations around his departure begin heating up, Atlanta is predicted to replace him with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ No.1 overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Atlanta Falcons Predicted To Sign Jameis Winston This Offseason
The Falcons went into the 2024 NFL season with an unusual plan. They drafted Penix at No. 8 overall after giving Cousins, 36 and coming off an Achilles injury, a four-year, $180 million contract.
This suggests that Atlanta brass envisioned Penix learning under Cousins for a few seasons. Unfortunately, Falcons fans’ worst fears manifested.
The experience gave Cousins the starting nod, but he struggled through 15 weeks — so much so that Atlanta benched the four-time Pro Bowler in favor of the rookie Penix.
Among 39 quarterbacks to start a game this season, Cousins was sandwiched at 24th in PFN’s QB+ metrics between the Indianapolis Colts’ Joe Flacco and Jacksonville Jaguars’ Mac Jones.
He is now expected to be on his way out, and USA Today’s Tyler Dragon predicts the Falcons will replace him with Winston.
“Winston’s play can be erratic. His propensity to give the football away resulted in demotions at practically all his stops (Tampa Bay, New Orleans, and Cleveland). He isn’t a long-term answer but he’s a serviceable starter or a high-end backup.
“The Falcons are inevitably going to move on from Kirk Cousins. Winston could fill in as Atlanta’s backup behind Michael Penix Jr.”
However, Winston’s QB+ metrics don’t suggest he would be an upgrade over Cousins. He was all over the place this year, with three games grading as a D or below and four games grading as a C or above.
It’s also not a major surprise that Winston was benched after Week 15 when he threw three interceptions and had just 4.4 nYPA despite getting 6.3 YAC/Cp. He at least completed 64.0% of his passes to the right team and converted on 37.5% of his third-down attempts.
Winston’s numbers over his last four weeks as the starter saw him rank 30th among 33 qualified quarterbacks, and his overall EPA/DB (-0.07) ranked 32nd among 39 qualified QBs this season. He was particularly bad when throwing under pressure in his time on the field, ranking 36th (-0.54).
However, if the Falcons are adamant about moving away from Cousins, Winston would serve as the perfect backup for Penix.
