Kirk Cousins, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, recently recovered from what is perhaps the worst injury a professional athlete can sustain: an Achilles tear. His six-year tenure with the Minnesota Vikings came to an end when he suffered the injury in Week 8 of the previous campaign.
Following that, Cousins inked a huge four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons during free agency. It is clear that Atlanta is placing a great deal of faith and optimism in Cousins playing at full strength in 2024.
The good news is that Cousins feels ready for the upcoming season and appears to be making excellent progress.
During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Cousins declared, “I’m good to go” (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk). “I’ve been saying for a while that I would play in the Super Bowl if it were today. And that probably goes back to when I was working out when I first came here. I believe we were maybe a week or two into my rehabilitation when I performed some drills in which I said, “Hey, if the Super Bowl were today, I’m playing.” They appeared to concur as well.
This summer marks Cousins’ 36th birthday, so there has been some concern about his prognosis. Not much can be done to allay Patrick’s worries, even if he also said of his Achilles, “even if it were to not heal fully, which I expect it to.”
It also implies that Cousins most likely wouldn’t participate in a game during the regular season.
It’s simple to see why the Falcons choose Cousins. Following Matt Ryan’s exit following the 2021 season, Marcus Mariota, Taylor Heinicke, and Desmond Ridder have been the starting quarterbacks for Atlanta. Clearly, the Falcons desired a speedy solution.
However, guaranteeing $100 million in cash to an ageing quarterback who recently had a torn Achilles tendon is a hazardous business.
Now, Atlanta might be sitting pretty come playoff time if Cousins can get back to his previous level of play. Ultimately, prior to his injury in 2023, Cousins had completed 2,331 yards of passing with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. He was on track to record MVP-caliber performance.
In addition, despite all the criticism Cousins has received over his career, he is a four-time Pro Bowl player who has thrown for 30 touchdowns or more in three of his six seasons in Minnesota. If he had been healthy this past year, he very well may have made it four, and in 2022, he tallied 29 touchdown passes.
The problem is that Cousins may very well be a free agent now, but the Falcons appear to be paying him for his past. which I understand. Furthermore, let’s be honest: nobody can predict Cousins’ appearance by Week 1.
Even the Falcons may be wary of Cousins going into 2024, as seen by Atlanta’s selection of Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall choice in last month’s NFL Draft. This raises the question of why the Falcons gave up so much guaranteed money to sign Cousins in the first place.
I hope Cousins has a successful outcome in everything. There aren’t many better folks out there.
On September 8, the Falcons will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game of the regular season.
