How Kirk Cousins’ $180M contract impacts Falcons salary cap if QB is traded and cut in 2025 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats and Rumors

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

With Tuesday’s announcement that Michael Penix Jr. was taking over as the Atlanta Falcons’ starting quarterback, replacing Kirk Cousins, the next logical question is what the future holds for the veteran quarterback .

And, therefore, how this will impact the Falcons.

There are three main options. The first, and probably most unlikely at this point, is that the Falcons are simply keeping Cousins as insurance for Penix. If the rookie struggles this year, that’s certainly a possibility, although it would mean taking on Cousins’ $40 million cap hit, his $27.5 million base salary and $10 million bonus for 2026 that they would owe him if he was on the roster. by the fifth day of the 2025 championship year.

This is an expensive backup plan, although the Falcons could still cut it after the 2025 season and incur $25 million in dead cap space.

It’s not spending money, but it’s a lot less dead capital than they would take if they chose option two, which frees him up outright after this season. This, however, would come with a prohibitive $65 million dead cap charge, which would be the second-largest dead cap charge in NFL history, behind only the $85 million dead cap charge that the Denver Broncos absorbed after cutting Russell Wilson.

The Broncos could either take this blow in a single season or spread it out between 2025 and 2026.

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

If the Falcons released Kirk Cousins with a designation after June 1, they would have $40 million in dead money in 2025 and $25 million in 2026. https://t.co/CESkSbcUpQ

The third option, and probably the most ideal for Atlanta, is finding a trade suitor for Cousins. By dealing him, the Falcons would not be responsible for his $27.5 million base salary, leaving them with a $37.5 million dead cap charge.

Again, it’s not a small number, but it’s better than the alternative.

Kevin Clark @bykevinclark

At 4:15 p.m., @MikeSilver and I’m talking about what Silver said one coach jokingly called “The Cult of Kirk Cousins.” The guys in the Shanahan/McVay tree love Cousins and if you think his availability doesn’t make one or two jazzed, you’re crazy. Even in its current state. https://t.co/A6Xyq4LUvB

But this option not only requires NFL teams to be interested in trading for Cousins, but he also has to come to terms on where to go, given his no-trade clause. Both of those factors could be complicated, since Cousins has thrown just one touchdown and nine interceptions in his last nine games.

That might make suitors hesitant to put much faith in him, while Cousins might be less inclined to join a non-contender.

In other words, it will be an interesting offseason for the Falcons. But no matter how they play it, the Penix era has begun in Atlanta.