Terry Fontenot on what to do with Kirk Cousins: ‘We have to do what’s right for the Falcons’

Cousins admitted that he was injured in the 20-17 loss to the Saints on Nov. 10 during an appearance on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Feb. 4.

Fontenot said the team’s “conversations” about the injury matter would stay “private.”

The Falcons listed Cousins on the Nov. 12 injury report with a “shoulder and elbow” injury.

In the next game, after the Falcons were blasted 38-6 by the Broncos, Cousins was asked if he was injured. It was noted that he was on the injury report before that game. He was asked, “Are you feeling OK?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good,” Cousins said. “That was a bit of a clerical error because we had walk-through, and when you have walk-through, they don’t really know what you could have done or couldn’t have done. If we had a full-speed practice, I would have, I would not have been on the report because I would have done everything.”

The NFL declined to comment to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution when asked if the Cousins matter would be investigated as a possible violation of the injury reporting rules.

The Falcons’ record dropped to 6-4 after the loss to the Saints. They went on to lose the next three games and drop to 6-7 on the season and out of first place in the NFC South. After a win over the Raiders, in which Cousins continued to play poorly, he was benched in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr.

“Kirk was on the injury report that week, as you know, leading into that Denver game,” Fontenot said. “Outside of that, he wasn’t on the injury report, so we weren’t aware of anything outside of that particular week.”

Fontenot was asked if the franchise was misled about the “injury.”

“That’s a question for Kirk, any specific things about that, but as far as we stand, he was on the injury report that week leading into that game,” Fontenot said. “Went on the injury report. He wasn’t on the injury report anytime outside of that.”

Cousins’ drop in play — from throwing for a franchise record 509 yards on Oct. 3 to leading the league in interceptions — was not a red flag for the team.

“That’s a regular part of the process with our player-performance team,” Fontenot said. “Everything we do, it’s about the players 24/7. We’re doing everything we can do to make sure we’re doing right by the players in every way. So, that’s a regular part of the process.”

Fontenot would not say if the franchise was surprised by Cousins’ injury comments.

“Again, he was on the injury report that one week,” Fontenot said. “When the player is injured, we put him on the injury report. That’s the only time he was on the injury report. So, as far as we’re concerned, that’s the only injury we were aware of.”

When benching Cousins, Falcons coach Raheem Morris said it was because of his turnovers and not the injury.

After he was benched, Cousins would not use the injury or his health as an excuse.

Cousins, who signed a four-year contract worth up to $180 million, has a no-trade clause in his contract.

However, he’s due $10 million by March 12 and could be released, with the team taking on a $40 million dead salary-cap hit for 2025 and $25 million for 2026 or be the highest-paid backup in league history.

Fontenot was asked what would be the benefit to keeping Cousins around as the backup as opposed to releasing him.

“Whether it’s Kirk Cousins or any other player,” Fontenot said. “We have to look at how is this going to help our team and how is this going to effect the Atlanta Falcons. Not just with Kirk, with anybody. All of the decisions that we make, that’s what we look at, what’s right for this football team.”