FLOWERY BRANCH — After the Falcons flopped again, general manager Terry Fontenot had to explain to team owner Arthur Blank how he planned to overcome the failure of his Kirk Cousins Experiment. We can guess how that conversation went based on what Fontenot said during his news conference Thursday.
Yes, the Falcons signed Cousins with the idea that he would be a good starter for at least two seasons and instead got maybe eight effective performances before he was benched. But now Cousins can be a $27.5 million backup behind Michael Penix Jr. Sure, that’s a lot of money to pay to a guy who doesn’t play. But the Falcons will be using the same amount of salary-cap space for their two quarterbacks if Cousins were the starter.
If those arguments don’t sound convincing, that’s because no good case can be made for why the Cousins debacle isn’t as bad as it seems. Fontenot said the Falcons are “comfortable” with keeping Cousins as the highest-paid backup in NFL history. That’s a statement based on limited options, not preference.
This was a foreseeable outcome of the GM’s big bet on an older quarterback who wasn’t very mobile to begin with and had Achilles surgery Nov. 1, 2023. Fontenot must overcome the fallout of his decision to sign Cousins to a contract with $50 million up front and guarantees of $12.5 million in 2024 and $27.5 million in 2025.
“When you do that, you expect to get high-level quarterback play for two seasons,” Fontenot said. “We understand that that didn’t happen. Nobody was happy to make the switch at that time. ... So, now what happens is we had to accelerate that plan and go to Mike earlier.
“And yet the allocation at the quarterback position, we’re eighth in the league. That’s what we had planned for with Kirk as the starter. He’s not the starter anymore, but we’re very comfortable moving forward with him as a backup.”
Fontenot signaled that the Falcons are open to trading Cousins. That requires finding a team willing to give up assets for a quarterback who’ll be 37 next season with a $27.5 million salary. Cousins also would have to waive his no-trade clause and likely accept less money. Releasing Cousins would come with a penalty of at least $65 million in “dead money” left behind on the team’s salary-cap sheet.
It’s true that seven teams currently are projected to use more of their cap space on quarterbacks than the Falcons in 2025. None of those teams are on the hook to pay $27.5 million to a backup. They are paying big money for starting quarterbacks and a little money for backups. Then they spread cash around to players who produce for the team. The Falcons can’t do that with Cousins’ contract counting against the cap whether he stays or goes.
Those circumstances dim the bright spot of Penix’s performance in three starts as a rookie. He was the No. 8 overall pick in last year’s draft. A huge benefit of selecting a player that high is that they sign four-year contracts with salaries limited by the rookie scale. The Falcons never were going to get the full value from both Penix and Cousins. That hasn’t changed now that Penix is the starter because Cousins’ contract is eating up valuable cap space.
That’s on Fontenot. Messing up the quarterback situation isn’t the only major miss on his ledger.
Kyle Pitts, the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history, is a bust. Fontenot and former coach Arthur Smith unwisely decided that Desmond Ridder was the answer at quarterback. Fontenot traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Patriots for Matthew Judon, who was just OK a pass rusher. Building good teams requires hitting on mid-to-late round draft picks a few times, and Fontenot has done so only twice (center Drew Dalman and running back Tyler Allgeier).
The Falcons have posted four consecutive losing seasons with Fontenot as GM. If Fontenot gets a pass for the first two years because he inherited an old team with a salary-cap mess, then he gets plenty of blame for the Falcons failing to win the weak NFC South since he cleared the books.
“I want to be real clear that we haven’t done a good-enough job, I haven’t done a good-enough job,” Fontenot said. “We haven’t won enough. And so when you haven’t won enough, it starts with me. That’s my job to make this team a consistent winner, and I haven’t done a good enough job.”
Fontenot still has his job for now. His tenure hasn’t been all bad.
Fontenot hit on wide receiver Drake London and running back Bijan Robinson in the draft, and Penix showed enough to believe he can become a good starter. Fontenot said the Falcons lead the NFL in offensive production for players under 25. His good free-agent signings include safety Jessie Bates III, linebacker Kaden Elliss and wide receiver Darnell Mooney.
Said Fontenot: “When we look at the vision of this team and what we want it to be, there are positives in a lot of areas. But, ultimately, we haven’t won enough, and that’s what we have to do.”
The Falcons lost at least two games because Cousins was so bad. They finished two games behind the Buccaneers in the South. Now the Falcons are planning on Cousins being a $27.5 million backup in 2025. They must be comfortable with that for now because the failed Kirk Cousins Experience has made the other options unfeasible.
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