Six weeks after the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins, they screwed him over by drafting Michael Penix Jr., so he's making sure he gets some comeuppance on his way out. Now that Cousins landed with the Las Vegas Raiders, he made sure to get his revenge on the Falcons on his way out the door.
Technically, Cousins signed a five-year, $172 million deal with the Raiders, but comes with the most BS contract language ever signed. Because of low cap hits and easy outs, it essentially serves as a one-year, $20 million deal, but Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio revealed they capitalized on a loophole to have the Falcons foot a portion of the bill.
The 38-year-old will still get his $20 million, but only half of that money is fully guaranteed, so the Raiders set out to ensure paying this $10 million doesn't fall on them. Instead of paying him all $20 million up front, his $1.3 cap hit means that Atlanta owes him the remaining $8.7 million he's owed.
Thanks to the Raiders, the Atlanta Falcons will still be paying Kirk Cousins
Florio noted that had his cap hit been above $10 million, the Dirty Birds would've been off the hook with Kirk, but if not, the Falcons owed the difference. So because of the financial gymnastics coming out of Las Vegas, Ian Cunningham is forced to pay a QB who isn't even on the roster $8.7 million.
Credit to Tom Brennan for finding the offset language in his original contract and using it to the Raiders' advantage, but it doesn't make it any less sleazy. Raiders fans were freaking out about the Ravens backing out of the Maxx Crosby trade, so for their front office to pull this is pretty hypocritical.
The Falcons opened up a bit of money by restructuring two contracts, but now instead of investing that money into second-wave free agents or their 2026 NFL Draft class, they are severely handicapped because of the four-time Pro Bowler. And this isn't a team exactly flush with cash either.
Not only are the Falcons falling victim to what the Raiders did here, this could set the stage for other teams doing the same thing. Paying a recently-released player the league minimum in Year 1 while paying them more down the road requires their former team to pay the difference in contract balance.
Call it karmic retribution for what Terry Fontenot did to him, but Cousins is still finding ways to set Atlanta back. Collapsing down the stretch in 2024 and nearly saving Raheem Morris' job this past season are one thing, but this extra money could be going to an extension with Drake London and Bijan Robinson.
It's hard not to be salty about this, especially since he'll mostly be backing up Fernando Mendoza, but like Florio noted, "all is fair in love, war, and football". Hopefully Cunningham's able to make the best of Cousins' toxic exit.