Kirk Cousins has finally weighed in Atlanta\u2019s decision to draft a first-round quarterback a month after he signed a 4-year contract with the Falcons. <\/p>\n
In an episode of the Netflix series \u201cQuarterback,\u201d<\/a> which premiered Tuesday, the former Michigan State star discussed the Falcons taking Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft. <\/p>\n The usually classy Cousins admitted he felt \u201ca little bit misled\u201d after Penix arrived on the scene. Cousins, a longtime starter in both Washington and Minnesota, signed a four-year, $180 million contract in March 2024. <\/p>\n His track record and the size of the contract seemed to guarantee Cousins a long-term starting role in Atlanta, but the Falcons shocked everyone when they took the dynamic Penix after he led the NCAA in passing yards at Washington in 2023. <\/p>\n Cousins began the season as the starting quarterback, but he was benched in December<\/a> with the Falcons struggling to a 7-7 record. <\/p>\n Cousins said he was aware the Falcons might draft a quarterback, but not in in the top 10. When the Falcons took Penix, he was just as shocked as everyone else across the football world. <\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, if I had the information around free agency, it certainly would\u2019ve affected my decision,\u201d Cousins said on the first episode of the season. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there if both teams are going to be drafting a quarterback high. But I\u2019ve also learned in 12 years in this league that you\u2019re not entitled to anything. It\u2019s all about being able to earn your spot and prove yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n With Cousins leading the way, the Falcons started 6-3 but went on to lose four of five games with the quarterback struggling mightily.<\/p>\n Cousins was 7th in passing yards and had back-to-back strong performances against Tampa and Dallas prior to the losing streak (7 TDs, 0 INT), but the veteran soon entered a tailspin, throwing 9 interceptions compared to just 1 touchdown. <\/p>\n He had a league-high 16 interceptions at the time of his benching, which he took in stride at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n Many expected Cousins to be moved elsewhere in the offseason, but the Falcons picked up his $10 million bonus in March and he remains on the roster heading into training camp.<\/p>\n He will be 37 by the time the 2025 season begins. <\/p>\n \u201cIt hurts to go into work, but you got to be an adult,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be a grown man and handle it with maturity. I feel sorry for myself and it\u2019s hard to do, but that\u2019s what you got to do. And so that\u2019s kind of where my focus went.\u201d<\/p>\n Atlanta opens the season vs. Tampa Bay on Sept. 7. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kirk Cousins has finally weighed in Atlanta\u2019s decision to draft a first-round quarterback a month after he signed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[224,15446,7,6,15,9735],"class_list":{"0":"post-191435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-falcons","9":"tag-falcons-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft","13":"tag-practice"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114818813338278039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}