There’s very particular soul looking out to be achieved within the Atlanta entrance workplace. The group’s all-in bid for a Tremendous Bowl ring exploded of their faces with Kirk Cousins plummeting to earth, being benched, with the group left to choose up the items en path to an 8-9 file.
Fortunately there are two silver linings to this mess: Michael Penix Jr. has proven some flashes that he might be the QB of the long run, and Raheem Morris confirmed the resolve to make the powerful calls — indicative that he’s the appropriate man for the job.
The draw back is that GM Terry Fontenot continues to be in cost, and Terry Fontenot is bizarre. On Tuesday he opened up the Falcons’ mix week in Indianapolis by specializing in Cousins, earlier than issues obtained odd. Fortenot claims the group goes to be retaining Cousins for the upcoming season, citing that he desires him to again up Penix Jr. in 2025. Should you’re following alongside at dwelling, this implies Atlanta are committing to a $40M cap hit on their backup QB — however the actuality is they may not have an choice.
It’s unclear at this level if anybody actually desires Cousins to be their QB — particularly for his huge price ticket. Certain, the Falcons may attempt to commerce him within the hopes somebody would chew, which implies Atlanta must nonetheless pay a good portion of his 2025 wage, as a result of groups aren’t going to just accept Cousins at his present determine. Subsequently, saying “we wish him to be our backup” is a handy cowl, and a approach to hedge a nasty wager. It no less than makes it seem like retaining Cousins has intentionality behind it, quite than desperation.
Maintaining a $40M backup QB wasn’t even the strangest, or most alarming a part of Fontenot speaking to the press in Indianapolis. That will as an alternative be dialogue of whether or not or not the group knew that Cousins was injured.
Just a few highlights from Terry Fontenot’s feedback to media to this point this morning:
-The Cousins harm feedback throughout Tremendous Bowl week caught the group off guard, he says, not conscious of any harm points previous the Denver sport
-They plan to carry on to Cousins because the backup to Penix (we’ll see)— The Falcoholic (@thefalcoholic.bsky.social) 2025-02-25T15:12:38.111Z
Cousins appeared on Good Morning Soccer within the lead as much as the Tremendous Bowl and detailed how he was harm in opposition to the Saints in Week 10, and that harm turned a nagging downside for the quarterback down the stretch.
“I, in opposition to the Saints, obtained hit fairly good in my proper shoulder and elbow and from there sort of coping with that was one thing I used to be working by means of and simply by no means actually may get it to the place I wished it,” Cousins stated.
The statistics kind of again up Cousins’ account, as a result of it wasn’t till after that Week 10 sport that he really fell off a cliff. As much as that time he’d thrown for nearly 3,000 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. From the Saints sport onwards his common yards per-attempt plummeted, his accuracy suffered, and he solely managed to throw one landing to 9 interceptions. Each signal factors to the very fact Cousins was injured for the remaining 5 video games he performed in — however the Falcons are digging in and swearing that they had no thought he was harm.
There are some issues with this excuse. Particularly: It is not sensible. It assumes that Cousins by no means communicated with the group that he was harm, that no one questioned why he was struggling, and ignores the truth that playcalling modified drastically after that Saints sport — indicative of a group attempting to scheme round an harm.
Previous to the harm Cousins was ranked 14th within the NFL in Common Depth of Goal (ADoT), which is a metric which indicated how deep performs are being referred to as, and the way assured a group is in a QB’s arm. Cousins’ ADoT plummeted after the harm in Week 10, averaging twenty seventh within the league. It’s only one determine, however that is according to a QB who’s struggling to throw the ball, and a group attempting to masks it.
So why would the Falcons lie concerning the harm now? Nicely, it simply so occurs they by no means put him on the harm report. Right here is how Cousins was listed on the report week-to-week after he says he sustained the harm:
- Week 11: Full Participant (proper shoulder, proper elbow)
- Week 12: Not on report
- Week 13: Not on report
- Week 14: Not on report
- Week 15: Not on report
- Week 16: Not on report
- Week 17: Not on report
Why the Falcons didn’t report any problem with Cousins is a thriller. Maybe they wished to masks making the change to Penix. Possibly they didn’t need their opponents to know that Cousins was harm. Both means it’s in opposition to NFL guidelines, and the Falcons understand it. Punishment for failing to report ranges from fines, to potential lack of draft decide for repeat offenders — and guess what? The Falcons had been fined in 2023 for not reporting an harm to Bijan Robinson previous to their Week 7 sport, wherein Robinson was restricted earlier than revealing he was feeling sick.
So historical past isn’t on the aspect of Fontenot and the Falcons on this one relating to being forthright. The result’s now that Atlanta’s GM principally stood in entrance of reporters, stated Kirk Cousins lied about his harm (or no less than withheld data from the group), then stated he was fantastic with a $40M backup.
The Falcons are bizarre as hell.
