Former New York Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum has made a bold prediction about Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins. The 55-year-old has been an important figure in the NFL media and often gives interesting suggestions and strategies for various teams and players in the NFL.
Mike Tannenbaum Predicts Kirk Cousins To Lead Cleveland Browns to Glory in 2025
The former NFL GM made an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” and predicted the Falcons QB’s future.
“Kirk Cousins will lead the Browns to AFC North Division title in 2025. And to me, this one is really easy because you reunite with Kevin Stefanski. They need a quarterback. They have a really good defense. If Kirk Cousins plays, they will win the division.” Tannenbaum said.
.@RealTannenbaum thinks Kirk Cousins will join the Browns next season and lead them to win the AFC North 👀 pic.twitter.com/fNFq44eunU
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 1, 2025
David Dennis Jr. instantly argued back, saying, “What? He is going to join and be what? Maybe the third-best quarterback in the division? He can finish this with the Falcons. What are you talking about? And why do the Browns need more than one quarterback that they can’t play?”
Jason McCourty chimed in, defending his own statement by pointing out that he’d said that the Browns will have Kirk Cousins, and not that they will win the division.
Cousins has a four-year contract with the Falcons worth a whopping $180 million. Fans anticipated him to be the torchbearer for Atlanta and end his NFL career as a Falcon. However, Falcons brass had other plans, and they used their No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to land Michael Penix Jr.
Kirk Cousins has a full no-trade clause allowing him to stay with the Falcons. But he has become a benchwarmer after Atlanta turned to Penix to boost its offense. If the Falcons do trade Cousins, they would carry a dead cap number of $37.5 million in 2025 but save $27.5 million in cash and $2.5 million in cap.
Kirk Cousins’ Year in Numbers
The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback was 7-7 as a starter, throwing for 3,508 yards and a league-high 16 interceptions.
Here at Pro Football Network, we have created our own Quarterback+ (QB+) metric, which weighs statistics we value highly and then uses them to evaluate a quarterback across the current season.
Our metric uses numbers that are fully available through 2019, so that’s where the historical context comes from. All data referenced is relative to either the current season or in comparison to stats dating back to 2000 for most or 2019 for pressure-related data.
Through Week 15, Cousins had a C- grade, translating to a 71.8 score. The Falcons made the decision to bench him entering Week 16 after he ranked 28th in the league over the proceeding four weeks. Cousins has struggled when operating under pressure and in clutch spots all season, with a -0.44 EPA/DB when pressured. His nYPA of 7.3 ranks ninth, but he’s also 12th in YAC/Cp at 5.6.
Cousins’ clean-pocket numbers are solid (0.28 EPA/DB), but he converted just 34.1% of his third-down opportunities this season (ranks 30th), and he is 27th when pressured.
The Falcons wouldn’t fancy releasing Cousins yet, as it would give them a $65 million dead cap, the highest in the league’s history. They don’t need such a high-salary backup, either. Atlanta might already be looking for trade partners, and there have been various speculations about Cousins moving to Cleveland in the upcoming season.
Cousins had success in Stefanski’s system. In 15 games in 2019, he threw for 3,603 yards and 26 touchdowns. He also had a career-high standard passer rating of 107.4, six interceptions (a career-low during his time as a full-time starter), and led the Vikings to a 10-5 record in the games he started.