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Few teams have a more interesting offseason ahead of them than the Atlanta Falcons. Currently dealing with one of the worst cap situations in the league, general manager Terry Fontenot has a lot of roster reconstruction ahead of him as the team transitions into the Michael Penix Jr. era. Far from a finished product, the Falcons are expected to be busy in the 2025 NFL offseason.
The Falcons' future remains bright despite the feeble way their season ended. Penix has just three starts under his belt but fell only one game short of the playoffs. He went just 1-2 as a rookie but lost both games in overtime.
Without much cap space to work with, Atlanta's initial offseason moves will come internally. The team's bloated roster leaves behind several potential cut candidates, most notably recently signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. Despite inking a four-year, $180 million contract in 2024, Cousins lost his job to Penix at the end of his first season with the team, instantly making him a liability.
In addition to Cousins, even some of the team's most respected veterans are unsafe ahead of the 2025 NFL offseason. Beloved fan-favorite Younghoe Koo had the worst season of his career in 2024, making him a fringe roster option. Even organizational mainstays, such as Grady Jarrett and David Onyemata, cannot feel any sense of job security. Frustrating on-field performances have even caused fans to clamor for the end of Kyle Pitts' young tenure.
With a handful of mega-sized contracts and a plethora of league-average deals, Atlanta's payroll situation is less than ideal. With most of his young core still on rookie contracts, Fontenot has ample time to tinker with his options in the meantime. Yet, the time is running out, and with Penix now firmly in control, the Falcons' window of opportunity is as open as it has been in years.
QB Kirk Cousins
No player in the league has been involved in cut rumors more than Cousins over the past three months. The discussions began as soon as he was benched for Penix, with many already predicting his next team in free agency. The biggest hindrance to Cousins' potential release is the sheer size of his contract. A possible release would force the Falcons to eat over $60 million in dead money.
Still, Atlanta has no use for Cousins on its roster. At 36, his inconsistency makes him nothing more than a depth option. The starting job is now firmly in Penix's grasp, and Cousins will not be the guy to change that. Over his last five starts in 2024, Cousins threw just one touchdown to nine interceptions. His brutal collapse resulted in a mere 18:16 touchdown-interception ratio, one of the worst marks in the league.
The writing has been on the wall since the Falcons drafted Penix with the No. 8 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Given the size of the contract Cousins just signed, many expected it would take the former Washington Husky more time to grow into the starting role. However, the veteran's struggles expedited the process.
Even with potential contract reconstructions, Cousins' guaranteed rate is far too high for Atlanta to retain him for as long as they initially agreed. It feels like just a matter of time until he gets his release papers. The question will be how long Fontenot will hold off on that notion and how much he is willing to absorb to make it end the facade.
K Younghoe Koo
Although he is only owed roughly $5 million per year over the next two seasons, Younghoe Koo is slowly becoming one of the biggest liabilities on the Falcons' roster. He became one of the highest-paid kickers when he initially signed his current extension in 2022 and still ranks near the top of the position in 2025. While he is compensated like an elite kicker and has the fan base of one, his production has gradually declined.
Koo had a down year in 2023 — hitting a then-career-low 86 percent of his field goal attempts — only to back it up with a disastrous outing in 2024. He connected on just 74 percent of his field goal kicks on the year, ranking among the worst in the league while simultaneously recording a historically poor success rate.
Once known for his accurate leg, Koo has not finished with a top-10 percentage since 2022. The bar is undoubtedly high. However, with his current salary, Koo is expected to consistently be one of the elite legs in the NFL. That has not been enough of the case lately to justify his pay range.
Even if a cutting Koo would not create as much space as some other names on the roster, clearing any room is helpful to Atlanta in its current situation. It would not be surprising to see the media sensation free from the Falcons' roster in the 2025 NFL offseason.
DT David Onyemata
Two years into his Falcons tenure, David Onyemata has been precisely what the Falcons have desired. As a top-end run-stuffer, he has fit the mold of both former coordinators Ryan Nielsen and Jimmy Lake's defenses at nose tackle. In 2024, Onyemata received a respectable 66.2 player grade from Pro Football Focus, bolstered by a 64.5 run defense grade. That placed him in the top 20 percent of all eligible defensive tackles.
However, like most of the veterans on the team, his pricing point is his biggest liability. Onyemata signed a three-year, $35 million contract in 2023, meaning he is owed roughly $11.6 million in 2025. Given how much the Falcons would have to eat to cut Cousins, releasing replaceable veterans like Onyemata would be cheaper while still clearing meaningful cap space.
Releasing Onyemata would leave a vacancy at nose tackle, but not one that would be too detrimental to overcome. Either one of Grady Jarrett or Zach Harrison could competently fill the void. If not, the market is consistently full of affordable veterans. Any of them would provide enough of what Atlanta needs in the middle. Either way, new defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich prefers a 4-3 set-up — as opposed to Lake's 3-4 scheme — which is much less reliant on Onyemata's skill set as a nose tackle.
