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article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: Kirk Cousins #18 of the Atlanta Falcons warms up before kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles during a football game at Lincoln Financial Field on September 16, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Cooper N <\/p>\n
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Falcons announced on Wednesday that they have officially released veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
The Falcons posted on X saying Cousins was released with a post-June 1 designation. The designation will allow the team to spread its dead-cap hit over two seasons \u2013 paying out $22.5 million in 2026 and $12.5 million in 2027, according to The New York Times.<\/a><\/p>\n The move comes as the new NFL year begins.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Falcons General Manager Ian Cunningham announced the team’s intention <\/a>to cut Cousins at the NFL Combine in February.<\/p>\n Speculation arose after Cousins was benched during the 2024 season in favor of Michael Penix Jr. The release allows Cousins to enter free agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n Penix will have some competition for the starter role in 2026, NFL sources say, as the Falcons reportedly plan to sign former Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a one-year deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED:<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this report comes from the Atlanta Falcons’ X account, the New York Times and prior FOX 5 reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Atlanta Falcons<\/a>Atlanta<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: Kirk Cousins #18 of the Atlanta Falcons warms up before kickoff against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,8673,88,6,9,800],"class_list":["post-807029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-ga","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116212578009482789","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807029","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=807029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}