{"id":832073,"date":"2025-03-06T14:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T20:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/atlanta-falcons-gm-terry-fontenot-is-comfortable-moving-forward-with-kirk-cousins-as-their-backup\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T14:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T20:12:08","slug":"atlanta-falcons-gm-terry-fontenot-is-comfortable-moving-forward-with-kirk-cousins-as-their-backup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/atlanta-falcons-gm-terry-fontenot-is-comfortable-moving-forward-with-kirk-cousins-as-their-backup\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons: GM Terry Fontenot is \u2018comfortable\u2019 moving forward with Kirk Cousins as their backup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2023, the Falcons finished 7-10 for the third consecutive season. General Manager Terry Fontenot fired head coach Arthur Smith and parted ways with QB Desmond Ridder. Former Rams and Falcons DC Raheem Morris was hired as head coach for the 2024 season.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atlanta made a move in free agency this offseason to get a new QB on the roster. Kirk Cousins<\/a> received a four-year, $180 million deal from the Falcons. The veteran QB got $90 million guaranteed at signing. After 14 starts in 2024 and going 7-7, the Falcons benched Cousins for rookie QB Michael Penix. On Thursday, GM Terry Fontenot said the team is \u201ccomfortable\u201d moving forward with Kirk Cousins as their backup. However, he\u2019ll have to restructure his contract. No backup QB in the NFL is worth anything close to what Cousins would be making in 2025.<\/p>\n

How will the Falcons handle Kirk Cousins\u2019 contract?<\/h2>\n
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At this point of the offseason, it does the Falcons zero good to admit error and state that they plan to move on from Kirk Cousins, but to be clear: they will not have a back-up QB make $37.5M in cash next season. https:\/\/t.co\/D4taGw0BdT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nLast offseason, Kirk Cousins\u2019 four-year, $180 million deal was a shocking move by Atlanta. The team needed an answer at QB and the team went with a veteran in Cousins. However, Falcons GM Terry Fontenot made sure to have a backup plan in case Cousins\u2019 time went South. After his 14 start of the season, Kirk Cousins was benched for Atlanta. In Week 16, rookie Michael Penix Jr. made his first career start vs. the Giants.\u00a0 Penix started the final three games of the 2024 season for the Falcons and he is going to be their starter in 2025.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the Falcons run into a financial issue. The team has no problem starting Michael Penix Jr. instead of Kirk Cousins. Penix gives the team a better chance to win long-term. However, the Falcons need to address Cousins\u2019 contract this offseason. In 2025, Cousins has a fully guaranteed base salary of $27.5 million. He\u2019s still on the books for another $37.5 million in guaranteed money. General manager Terry Fontenot has a tough situation to handle. The Falcons owe Cousins a lot of money to be a backup QB. We\u2019ll see if the team can try and undo the mistake of signing Kirk Cousins to a long-term deal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/main> <\/p><\/div>\n

Zach Wolpin
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2023, the Falcons finished 7-10 for the third consecutive season. General Manager Terry Fontenot fired head coach Arthur Smith and parted ways with QB Desmond Ridder. Former Rams and Falcons DC Raheem Morris was hired as head coach for the 2024 season.\u00a0 Atlanta made a move in free agency this offseason to get a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":832074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1658,22408],"tags":[8492,21579],"class_list":{"0":"post-832073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta","8":"category-falcons","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-falcons"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}