{"id":774618,"date":"2026-02-25T04:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774618\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T04:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T04:26:17","slug":"falcons-gm-confirms-plan-to-release-kirk-cousins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774618\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons GM confirms plan to release Kirk Cousins"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons have informed quarterback Kirk Cousins they plan to release the 14-year veteran when NFL<\/a> free agency opens next month, new general manager Ian Cunningham<\/a> said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he\u2019s done in his career, we owe that to him just to allow him some clarity going into free agency,\u201d Cunningham said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Cousins played two seasons with the Falcons with mixed-at-best results, signing a $180 million contract about six weeks before Atlanta drafted Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in 2024. Penix won the job in 2025, before a season-ending knee injury<\/a> made Cousins the starter again down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Cousins started 22 of 34 games over the past two seasons, going 12-10. He threw a league-most 16 interceptions in just 14 games in 2024. The 37-year-old is 88-77-2 as a starter with Washington, Minnesota and Atlanta.<\/p>\n

With his recently reworked deal, Cousins would have his 2027 salary ($67.9 million) fully guaranteed if he were to remain on the roster by the third day of the new league year.<\/p>\n

The Falcons also placed the franchise tag on tight end Kyle Pitts on Tuesday, preventing him from becoming a free agent.<\/p>\n

Pitts, the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, earned second-team All-Pro honors after he had a career-high 88 receptions and five touchdowns last season<\/a>. His 928 receiving yards were the second most among NFL tight ends, behind only Arizona\u2019s Trey McBride.<\/p>\n

Pitts is expected to make about $16 million this year under the franchise tag. Next Tuesday is the deadline for teams to use the franchise or transition tag on players.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons have informed quarterback Kirk Cousins they plan to release the 14-year veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[223,254,1437,7,4645,629,53720,12224,932,294,6153,1879,233,20187,6,498,9,1438,6042],"class_list":{"0":"post-774618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-compensation-in-sports","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-ga-state-wire","13":"tag-georgia","14":"tag-ian-cunningham","15":"tag-in-state-wire","16":"tag-indiana","17":"tag-kirk-cousins","18":"tag-kyle-pitts","19":"tag-michael-penix-jr","20":"tag-minnesota","21":"tag-mn-state-wire","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-nfl-football","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-sports-transactions","26":"tag-trey-mcbride"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116129378131041640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774618","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=774618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}