Kirk Cousins’ $40 million cap hit is nearly twice as much as Atlanta’s second-highest-paid player in 2025
In the NFL, the more salary cap space a team has, the easier it is to add talent to the roster. However, one bad contract can set your franchise back years. The Atlanta Falcons were initially praised for signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in 2024, but that deal has aged like milk.
Cousins lost his job to Michael Penix Jr. late in the year and now enters the 2025 season as Atlanta’s backup quarterback. The problem is that the 36-year-old is set to earn the team’s highest cap hit ($40 million), and the Falcons only have $4,961,333 available.
While NFL quarterbacks generally get a disproportionate amount of the salary cap, paying that much to a second-string player severely limits what the Falcons can do. Cousins’ contract likely played a role in the team trading a future first-round pick to move up for James Pearce Jr.
If we examine the team’s highest-paid players, everyone except Cousins is set to play a key role this season. Check out Atlanta’s top 10 salary cap hits for the 2025 NFL season below.
Kirk Cousins: $40,000,000Jessie Bates: $22,250,000David Onyemata: $16,925,000Kaleb McGary: $16,500,000Darnell Mooney: $14,480,000Jake Matthews: $13,273,713Chris Lindstrom: $12,250,000Kyle Pitts: $10,878,000Leonard Floyd: $10,000,000A.J. Terrell: $9,000,000Notable Falcons outside top 10Kaden Elliss: $8.5 millionDrake London: $6,851,878Bijan Robinson: $5,988,694Michael Penix Jr.: $5,200,599Matt Bergeron: $2,448,677
The Falcons haven’t been great in the draft under general manager Terry Fontenot, but they’ve been very good in the first round over the last few years. Some of the team’s best players, including Bijan Robinson and Drake London, are ranked outside of the top 10 in terms of their 2025 salary cap hits. Veteran linebacker Kaden Elliss, who ranks 11th on the team with a cap hit of $8.5 million, was among Atlanta’s most productive players last season.