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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins is coming off of arguably the worst injury a professional athlete can suffer: a torn Achilles. He sustained the injury with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 8 of last season, ending his six-year run with the Vikings.
Cousins then signed a massive four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons in free agency, so obviously, Atlanta is putting a lot of trust and hope in Cousins being 100 percent in 2024.
The good news is that Cousins seems to be making great progress, and he is feeling prepared for next season.
“I’m good to go,” Cousins said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “I’ve told people for a while that if the Super Bowl were today, I’m playing. And that goes back probably — I think when I first got here, I was working out and we got maybe a week or two into my rehab and I did some drills where I said, ‘Hey, if the Super Bowl were today, I’m playing.’ And they seemed to agree.”
Cousins turns 36 years old this summer, so there has been some trepidation about how he will recover. The fact that he also told Patrick “even if it were to not heal fully, which I expect it to” of his Achilles doesn't do much to squelch those concerns.
It also means that Cousins probably wouldn't be playing in a regular-season game.
Kirk Cousins is a risky move for the Falcons
It's easy to understand why the Falcons added Cousins. Since Matt Ryan's departure after the 2021 campaign, Atlanta has trotted out names like Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke under center. The Falcons obviously wanted a quick fix.
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But giving an aging quarterback coming off of a torn Achilles $100 million in guaranteed money is a risky move, nonetheless.
Now, if Cousins is able to regain his old form, Atlanta may be sitting pretty next season. After all, Cousins had thrown for 2,331 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions before going down in 2023. He was on pace to post MVP-caliber numbers.
Plus, for all of the flak Cousins has taken throughout his career, he is a four-time Pro Bowler, and in three of his six seasons in Minnesota, he threw for 30 or more touchdowns. He would have almost certainly made it four had he remained healthy this past year, and in 2022, he totaled 29 touchdown passes.
The thing is, the Falcons seem to be paying Cousins for what he has done in the past rather than what he may very well be right now. Which, I get it. And let's face it: no one knows how Cousins is going to look come Week 1.
Still, Atlanta selecting Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick of the NFL Draft last month does demonstrate that even the Falcons may have some doubts about Cousins heading into 2024, which makes you wonder why they committed so much guaranteed money to him in the first place.
Hopefully, everything works out for Cousins. You won't find many better people.
The Falcons will kick off their regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 8.
