FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins wanted to focus on the future Tuesday, and that future may include him being with the Falcons throughout the 2025 season, he conceded.

“Obviously, you would love to play, but I’m not going to dwell on things that aren’t reality,” Cousins said after the first of Atlanta’s two mandatory minicamp practices. “That’s not the situation I’m in, so it’s better to be focused on the situation I’m in and control what I can control. I think that’s the right mindset to have.”

Cousins, who is entering his 14th year in the league and last offseason signed a four-year deal with Atlanta that already has paid him $100 million, was benched last year in favor of rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr., and the Falcons have made clear that Penix is the team’s starter now. Cousins told team owner Arthur Blank during a March phone call that he would like to be released or traded to a team where he could be a starting quarterback again, Blank said at the league’s annual meeting, but Falcons head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot have said they are comfortable playing the entire 2025 season with Cousins as the backup.

On Tuesday, Cousins seemed to have come to terms with that possibility.

“Certainly there were conversations in January, February, March, even April, but we’re moving forward now,” he said. “Those are things we talked about months ago. Now we need to move forward. Right now, it’s about the situation I’m in and being the best I can be and hopefully, in February, we as an organization are holding up the Lombardi Trophy.”

Cousins was not a regular part of the team’s voluntary offseason workouts in May and early June but showed up Tuesday and sat on the front row during Morris’ team meeting, Morris said. Atlanta’s juggling of its quarterbacks hasn’t caused any “drama” in the building, the coach said.

“I am really comfortable with Kirk because of who he is, the character, the person,” Morris said. “We don’t worry about those things with Kirk. He’s going to go out and do whatever it takes to help this football team as long as he’s with us, and he’s with us. It’s been a less dramatic situation than it is from an outside-the-building standpoint.”

Morris also isn’t worried that Cousins’ presence will adversely affect the development of Penix, who started the final three games last season.

“I don’t worry about that with Michael at all,” he said. “You guys have been around him. He’s not going to die from a heart attack. He’s very poised, very calm. Kirk is not in the business of disrupting Michael Penix.”

Cousins said he would support Penix but try not to be an overbearing presence.

“Michael is going to do great. He’s going to have a great career,” Cousins said Tuesday. “He’s off to a great start. He’s got all the tangibles and intangibles you need to be successful. I’m just here to support him as he needs it, but I also don’t need to be in his ear so much that I’m another weight.”

Penix and Cousins live in the same neighborhood outside the city and developed a quick friendship last year.

“Kirk has always been the same guy from Day 1,” Penix said Tuesday. “We support each other. That’s how it’s always going to be. We’re teammates. We want this team to win games.”

Tuesday was only the second time Cousins has spoken publicly since the end of the 2025 season. The first came during a series of short interviews during Super Bowl week, during which he suggested that a shoulder and arm injury sustained during a Week 10 loss to New Orleans impacted his play the rest of the season.

How much it impacted it still is hard to say, he said Tuesday.

“I think that’s a question I have asked myself quite a bit,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a simple, cut-and-dry answer. I think when you look at how the season was going and then what happened after that, it feels like it was an inflection point, but I can’t sit here if we were to watch the tape together and blame every mistake I made on that. It’s somewhere in the middle.”

Through Week 9, Cousins was tied for fourth in the NFL in touchdown passes (17) and seventh in EPA per dropback (.15). From Week 10 through his benching after Week 15, he was 33rd in EPA per dropback (minus-.14) with one touchdown pass and nine interceptions.

“I have sprained my elbow before, I have sprained my shoulder before, I’ve had sprains in my ankle, so what I was feeling was no different than what I felt in other years, but I do think the combination of the three maybe was what I didn’t understand,” he said. “A lot of learning took place. Now we move forward with what we learn, and it makes you a better player.”

Cousins was returning last season from an Achilles tear that ended his 2024 season after eight starts. He maintained throughout the 2025 season that the injury was fully healed, but that diagnosis may have been premature, he said Tuesday.

“I thought I was much better than I was,” he said. “I think you learn that as you improve. You realize, ‘Oh, I thought I was already back and I’m still making improvements.’ On a 1-10, I thought I was at an 8 and I was really back at a 3 or 4, and now I’m getting back to 6, 7 or 8. There was a lot of learning this offseason to get there. The Achilles healed great, but the ankle was very tight. What I realized this offseason was that the strength was there, it was a mobility issue, and you have to have both. I think I thought I was fully healthy, and once I got to the offseason, I realized maybe, ‘There was more there than I thought.’”

Cousins had success throughout his football career playing through injuries and thought he could do the same last year, he said.

“You get out there and you believe good things can happen, and unfortunately, last year they didn’t, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” he said.

The Falcons seemingly have run out of places to trade Cousins after Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers, although an injury could open up a starting spot somewhere once training camps and the season begin. For now, though, Cousins is preparing himself for Year 2 in Atlanta and being the best backup quarterback for the Falcons he can be.

“Depth is important at every position,” he said. “Certainly, I’ll be doing all I can to stay ready. I think the organization would like to not need me, but I’ll do the best I can to stay ready.”

— The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, Jayna Bardahl and Dianna Russini contributed to this report.

(Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)