When the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins during the 2024 offseason, they thought they were going to get franchise QB-level production after years of instability. But just six weeks later, they drafted Michael Penix Jr., and this quickly looked like one of the worst contracts in NFL history.
The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract, yet he spent just two seasons in Atlanta and was replaced as the starter near the end of his first season. So they were on the hook for $57.5 million in 2026 and 2027, but used the out in his contract to get out of his deal with no penalty.
After his release, he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders to reunite with Klint Kubiak, where he's turned back the clock. Cousins has showed sides of him in Vegas we never saw here, as he's currently third in the NFL in passing yards (2,124) and second in passing touchdowns (19) through eight games.
While Penix turned in a disastrous Week 8 performance against the Buccaneers, the 38-year-old was stellar. Not only did he lead the Raiders to a late comeback win over the New York Jets, Kirko Chainz completed 19 of 27 passes for 247 yards and three scores (plus a rushing score) and was dropping dimes all game long.
Based off of that alone, you'd think that the Falcons should regret moving on from him when he very obviously still has quality football left in the tank, but the truth is that this is the sequence of events any reasonable GM would have done, so let's not blame Ian Cunningham for his renaissance.
The Atlanta Falcons were right to stick with Michael Penix Jr. over Kirk Cousins
What we need to remember is that the Atlanta Falcons were never going to choose Kirk Cousins over Michael Penix Jr. this offseason. There is no reason to choose a veteran who was going to sink your financial flexibility over a former top-10 pick who still has a lot of meat left on the bone in regards to his development.
There is just a lot of knee-jerk reactions in this league, and what we saw on Sunday has ignited some serious revisionist history. Yet here's the crazy part: it took a four-interception game for Penix for the two to have thrown the same amount of picks this year.
Before a matchup with the Jets (who have one of the worst defenses in the NFL), there were people calling for the Raiders to replace Cousins with No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza as the starter, so let's not use one game as ammunition to change our opinion, especially given the circumstances.
Even after Penix looked putrid in the 16-0 shutout loss against the Bucs, he's still the better long-term piece. I don't want to exclusively blame the 26-year-old despite his awful decision-making not because of the inclement weather, but because the Dirty Birds had no idea how to gameplan for the weather. The Bucs ran the football 56 times. Tommy Rees dialing up half as many runs isn't on his QB.
It's easy to dunk on No. 9 and say Atlanta should have stuck with Cousins, but it isn't that simple. The Falcons cut him when they did to split the dead money across two years, and if they'd have kept him, there was a $67.2 million guarantee in the 2027 offseason they would've needed to cut him for.
I'm glad to see Kirk Cousins thriving with the Raiders, but Michael Penix Jr. has finally looked like a franchise quarterback this year, and a bad performance in one of the strangest games in NFL historyshouldn't change the fact they were right to give him a chance with a new staff coming in--even with how successful Cousins has been this year.
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