{"id":737393,"date":"2026-02-08T05:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737393\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:46:17","slug":"falcons-expected-to-cut-veteran-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/737393\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons expected to cut veteran QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 7, 2026, 4:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Falcons are expected to cut Kirk Cousins before the new league year, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Per Schefter, Cousins still wants to play, though a career in television or retirement are still on the table. Where else could Cousins play next season? We could imagine Cousins having some suitors once free agency opens in March.<\/p>\n

What teams make sense for the veteran quarterback, who won his last four games in a Falcons uniform and still showed an ability to run an NFL offense with decent success?<\/p>\n

Let’s run down some possible teams that could interest Cousins in continuing his NFL career.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings\"Dec<\/p>\n

A Vikings reunion just makes too much sense for Cousins and Minnesota, especially with the franchise expected to find veteran competition for J.J. McCarthy<\/a>. If Cousins is comfortable with giving McCarthy a run for his money, returning to Minnesota is probably the veteran quarterback’s best option to keep his NFL career going.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>Cleveland Browns\"BALTIMORE,<\/p>\n

If Cousins wants a guaranteed starting job, Cleveland might be the best place to find one that’s not the New York Jets. While that’s obviously a low bar, Cousins could give coach Todd Monken a reliable veteran to usher in this new era of Browns football. Cleveland is a bit short on offensive help, which might push Cousins in another direction.<\/p>\n

New York Jets\"Jan<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Jets, New York probably would be thrilled to have Cousins on the roster. Cousins is far less high-maintenance than Aaron Rodgers was as far as former veteran starters go, and he’d inherit a solid offensive roster with the Jets. If New York had interest, Cousins would give the team an intriguing answer at quarterback in 2026.<\/p>\n

Arizona Cardinals\"Sep<\/p>\n

We’re not sure what the future holds for quarterback Kyler Murray in Arizona. However, Cousins is an ideal fit to run the Shanahan\/McVay-style offense new Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur will most likely run in the desert. If Arizona trades Murray, Cousins could step right in and give Arizona at least a year of stability at quarterback for LaFleur.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers\"GREEN<\/p>\n

If Aaron Rodgers retires, the Steelers could pivot to Cousins as their 2026 starter. He’d give Mike McCarthy a reliable option at quarterback to kick off his first year in Pittsburgh. We bet Cousins wouldn’t hate this idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 4:30 p.m. ET The Atlanta Falcons are expected to cut Kirk Cousins before the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[95878,7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,95940,95941,96675,95882,95892,97157,96065,95896,95888,95895,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-737393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jets","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-jets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkjets","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnfl","17":"tag-sstsnnfl","18":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","19":"tag-tagamerican-football","20":"tag-tagespn-inc","21":"tag-tagkirk-cousins","22":"tag-tagkyler-murray","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-positive","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116033433602464616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737393","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=737393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}