{"id":412941,"date":"2025-10-02T01:27:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/412941\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:27:18","slug":"nfl-analyst-makes-trade-suggestion-for-falcons-ahead-of-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/412941\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL analyst makes trade suggestion for Falcons ahead of deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons<\/a> are off this week for their bye, which gives general manager Terry Fontenot some extra time to evaluate and potentially upgrade the roster before the team returns in Week 6. The Falcons<\/a> don’t have a ton of tradeable assets, but Kirk Cousins<\/a> is one clear candidate.<\/p>\n

The veteran quarterback lost his job last season and is currently serving as the NFL’s highest-paid backup behind Michael Penix Jr<\/a>. As injuries pile up around the league, the more likely it is for Atlanta to swing a deal before next month’s trade deadline.<\/p>\n

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But what exactly should the Falcons be looking to get in return?<\/p>\n

The cornerback and wide receiver positions could be potential targets, but NFL.com<\/a>‘s Kevin Patra thinks Atlanta should focus on another area. In a new feature identifying each team’s biggest need ahead of the trade deadline<\/a>, Patra said the Falcons should look to add more draft capital.<\/p>\n

NFL.com’s trade deadline advice for Falcons:<\/p>\n

The Falcons have a young secondary, so A.J. Terrell’s hamstring injury is cause for some concern. But with just five selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, Atlanta’s biggest need is to restock the pick coffers. The obvious name to watch, in terms of someone to move, is Kirk Cousins, even if the Falcons have previously insisted they are happy to keep him around. It still feels as though ATL is waiting for that one big injury that creates a need for a contender. — Kevin Patra, NFL.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Falcons are low on picks after trading up for James Pearce Jr. during the 2025 NFL draft. However, the team probably doesn’t have any regrets about making that move since the early returns on this year’s rookie class<\/a> have been promising.<\/p>\n

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As for Cousins, any team acquiring him would have to take on at least $20 million in salary cap space, although that number will go down a little bit each week. The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback has appeared in just one game this season, completing five of seven pass attempts for 29 yards.<\/p>\n

Last season, Cousins passed for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and a career-high 16 interceptions in 14 starts before losing his job to Penix. For the Falcons, getting a mid-round pick or a few late-round picks for Cousins would be worth it just to get back some draft capital.<\/p>\n

The Falcons will return to the field next week to play the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Atlanta Falcons: Kirk Cousins NFL trade deadline suggestion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons are off this week for their bye, which gives general manager Terry Fontenot some extra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,53,224,7,703,7776,294,18665,6,2660,2661,28474,17085],"class_list":{"0":"post-412941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-buffalo-bills","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-james-pearce-jr","15":"tag-kevin-patra","16":"tag-kirk-cousins","17":"tag-michael-penix","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-terry-fontenot","20":"tag-the-falcons","21":"tag-trade-deadline","22":"tag-veteran-quarterback"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115301976978156338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412941","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=412941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}