It's that point in the NFL offseason timeline. June 1. When the free agency world starts to ramp up before training camp and when the trade market heats up. But the most important thing about June 1 is that when players are released with a post-June 1 designation, they save their old team money.
And that's exactly what the Atlanta Falcons did when they cut Kirk Cousins. Months after restructuring his contract to decrease his 2026 cap hit, Falcons released Cousins with a post-June 1 designation, so they will officially save $2.1 million in cap space in 2026 and $45 million in 2027 today.
The 37-year-old was slated to make $57.5 million in both 2026 and 2027, but Atlanta reworked his contract earlier this offseason. His 2026 salary decreased to $2.1 million, but that came with a vesting guarantee of $67.9 million in 2027 if he was still on the roster by March 13, which never came to fruition.
The Falcons are no longer on the hook with Kirk Cousins in 2026 or 2027
The Falcons used that post-June 1 designation to move on from him two days prior, which made for a more clean break contractually. He's already been showing out in OTAs for his new team and he's developed a strong relationship with Fernando Mendoza, the new QB he'll be mentoring in Vegas.
The four-time Pro Bowler has since signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, where he's expected to start at the beginning of the season before becoming a full-time backup to Mendoza. Meanwhile, Atlanta has a QB battle brewing between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa, so everyone is better off now.
However, the Dirty Birds will still have to pay Cousins in 2026. Because of some loopholes in the language of the five-year, $172 million contract he signed with the Raiders, it's more of a one-year deal worth $20 million but only $10 million of it is guaranteed but they're only paying him $1.3 million.
This means that the Falcons still owe Cousins $8.7 million in 2026, but given the circumstances, this could be a lot worse. That BS contract language sucks, but the alternative was seeing things through with him at an expensive price, meaning they never would've signed a better QB for cheaper in Tua.
For $180 million over four years, Cousins was one of the worst free agent signings in franchise history, and it's a great feeling to finally be free of him in favor of Tua and officially save some money.
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