FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — For the first time since the 2024 season ended, veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins fielded questions from local media about his injury status last season and what the future could hold with the franchise moving forward.
The Falcons made the decision to move forward with Michael Penix Jr. as the starter with three games remaining in the 2024 season. At the season's conclusion, Falcons leadership expressed they "were comfortable" moving forward with Cousins as Penix's backup. In conversations with leaders like head coach Raheem Morris and owner Arthur Blank this offseason, however, Cousins expressed his want to still be a starter somewhere. As the quarterback market leveled out in recent months, though, no opportunity in which the Falcons would bite at arose.
So, as mandatory minicamp began Tuesday for the Falcons, Cousins found himself on the practice field with Atlanta once more working as Penix's backup. After practice, Cousins addressed some of the biggest offseason topics surrounding him — from injuries to his relationship with Penix. Here are the five biggest storylines Cousins addressed.
Cousins wasn't as "far along" in 2024 as he thought
In his opening statement, Cousins expressed a thought that would remain consistent throughout majority of his answers to questions. It was this theme that he wasn't as healthy during the 2024 season as he assumed he was.
"As the season ended last year and I started to get in and work on my body, having the time to do that, I felt like I thought I was much better than I was," Cousins said. "I think you learn that as you improve. As you make improvements you realize, 'Oh, I wasn't fully back and I am still making a lot of improvements here.'"
What Cousins was referring to was less about the Achilles tear and subsequent surgery that cut his 2023 season short, but rather a by product of the rehab process. Though Cousins said the Achilles itself was healed, tightness in the ankle was something he dealt with throughout the season.
"The strength was there," Cousins said, "but mobility was the issue."
Cousins explained he didn't realize this until after the dust settled on the season.
"From a 1-10, I thought I was at an eight but I was really at a three or four, and now I am getting back to that six, seven and eight," he said. "... You start to realize you weren't quite as far along as you want."
What about the shoulder injury?
Speaking of injuries, something that came up after the season was a right shoulder/elbow issue that Cousins said happened during the Falcons second game against the New Orleans Saints. While on Good Morning Football, Cousins expressed that this issue is something that lingered, despite Cousins claiming in season that his decline in play had nothing to do with an injury.
"I, against the Saints, got hit pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow and from there kind of dealing with that was something I was working through," Cousins said on GMFB in February. "I just never really could get it to where I wanted it."
Cousins was specifically asked about clarifying the extent of how much this injury impacted his play in-season. He said that is a question that he, too, has been asking himself "quite a bit."
"I don't think it is a simple cut and dry answer," Cousins said. "I think when you look at the way the season was going, and that hit and kind of where things went after that it feels like it was an inflection point. But if we were to watch the tape together, I can't sit here and blame every mistake I made on that. It's somewhere in the middle."
Cousins went on to say he's dealt with issues before that lingered in-season, but you play through it. The difference this past year, he said, was all of it happening simultaneously, and him perhaps not being truthful with himself about his own health.
"I've sprained my elbow before. I've sprained my should before. I have dealt with sprains in my ankle," he said. "So, what I was feeling was no different than what I felt in other years — but I think the combination of the three, maybe, was the part that I didn't quite understand and almost how it all works together in the one."
Has he asked for a trade?
As stated in the opening paragraphs of this article, it has been put on the record that Cousins has had conversations with Falcons leadership about what his future could hold as well as his request to be a starting quarterback in this league. Back at the Annual League Meetings in April, Morris said the Falcons would not stand in the way of Cousins doing so if something (i.e. a trade) presented itself that benefitted both parties.
Cousins confirmed those conversations were had, beginning in January and going through much of the pre-draft offseason. They have all but ceased since April, though.
"We are moving forward now," he said.
At peace with how things are... for now
So, conversations about the future have dwindled, but what does that mean for Cousins? Is he content being the backup? Does he want to be a starter somewhere else. Cousins was asked specifically if he would like to play for another team, and though it was obvious Cousins wants another chance to be a starter somewhere, that's not what the situation at hand is seeing as that opportunity hasn't arisen.
"Obviously, you would love to play," he said. "But I am not going to dwell on things that are not reality. That's not the situation I am in. So, it's better spent to be focused on the situation I am in, controlling what you can control. I think that is the right mindset to have."
He was later asked what the ideal situation is for him in 2025. His answer was team-focused.
"Right now it's being in the situation I am in and being the best I can. And hopefully in February, we — as an organization — are holding up the Lombardi Trophy," Cousins said. "And how we do that is more important as a team that we do that, some way, some how. That's where the focus has to be: That we as an organization win a championship and each one of us individually has to do our part in that to get there."
Putting the team — and Michael Penix Jr. — first
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Morris claimed he is not concerned with the relationship between Penix and Cousins, stating the drama around the situation is not nearly as significant inside the building as it is outside in the media.
"Kirk is not in the business of disrupting Michael Penix," Morris said. "Kirk has a great appreciation for the player Michael is. He has a great appreciation for the person that he is. I don't have worries about those things. That only happens when you have a lack of communication, when there's a void in the communication, and we just don't have those things."
Cousins concurred. He's not going to stand in Penix's way.
"Michael is going to do great," Cousins said. "He is going to have a great career. He is off to a great start, and he has all of the tangibles and intangibles that you need to be successful. I am just here to support him as he needs it. But, I also don't need to be in his ear so much that I am another weight, another voice. I just want to be able to support as I can, and he knows that."
