Falcons GM Fontenot insists team is ‘very comfortable’ with keeping QB Cousins as a backup to Penix

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said Thursday the team is “very comfortable” with keeping Kirk Cousins on the roster next season as the backup quarterback behind Michael Penix Jr.

Cousins was signed to a four-year, $180 million contract last offseason with $100 million guaranteed but was benched as Penix started the final three games of an 8-9 finish for the team’s seventh consecutive losing record.

The final $10 million of the $100 million guarantee in Cousins’ contract will be paid if Cousins is not released before March 17. Fontenot said suggestions the team plans to release Cousins are “not valid.”

“He’s not the starter anymore, but we’re very comfortable moving forward with him as a backup,” Fontenot said. “He’s handled himself extremely well through the entire process from start to finish, from when he came in the building. And, you know, in these situations, that’s when you show your true character.”

Fontenot said Cousins is “a great man” and a “great, great teammate” who showed “great support for everybody in the building.”

The Falcons were 1-2 with Penix, the No. 8 overall pick in last year’s NFL draft, as the starter. Even so, the left-hander showed more promise as a passer and a better ability to move in the pocket than Cousins, 36, who was returning from a torn Achilles tendon that ended his 2023 season with Minnesota.

Penix threw for 312 yards and accounted for three touchdowns — two passing and one rushing — in Atlanta’s 44-38 overtime loss to Carolina on Sunday. The Falcons missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

Cousins led Atlanta to a 6-3 record and the NFC South lead in an impressive start to what was expected to be at least a two-year run as the starter. The Falcons were 1-4 in their next five games as Cousins threw only one touchdown pass with nine interceptions. He led the league with 16 interceptions when he was benched.

Fontenot opened his session with reporters by saying “how disappointed we are in the results of the season” while adding “We understand at this point the words don’t mean anything. We have to speak with our results and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Fontenot’s statement that the team plans to keep Cousins as a backup could be seen as a bargaining message for any other NFL team waiting on the veteran to be released.

When asked if the team would be open to entertaining a trade offer for Cousins, Fontenot said “We’ll take those things as they come” and added “everyone would have to be good with it” including Cousins, who has a no-trade clause.

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