Kirk Cousins on choosing the Falcons, the Michael Penix Jr. pick and more

Kirk Cousins doesn’t believe Minnesota would have drafted a quarterback this year if he had re-signed with the Vikings. The fact the Atlanta Falcons did soon after he signed there only reinforced what the veteran quarterback already knew about the NFL, he told The Athletic’s NFL podcast “Scoop City.”

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s “words were, ‘Hey, if we sign you back, I would think it’s very unlikely that we would draft somebody.’ Or something to that effect,” Cousins said during an appearance with Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel. “But I also know that in this league things change.”

The lesson was emphasized to Cousins after he signed a four-year, $180 million free-agency deal with the Falcons because 43 days later, Atlanta used the No. 8 pick to select University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

“I’ve learned these things have a way of working themselves out,” Cousins said. “If you can play, you’ll always have an opportunity somewhere, and if the other guy can play, he’ll always have an opportunity somewhere. There seems to be a demand on quarterbacks.”

Kirk Cousins | Scoop City | July 30

Kevin O’Connell told Kirk Cousins before the draft, “If we re-sign you, it’s highly unlikely we’ll draft another quarterback.” They still only offered him 1 year deals

He knows things can change in the NFL, but it doesn’t make it any easier. pic.twitter.com/meWZvJ7Mmb

— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) July 29, 2024

Cousins emphasized that he believes the Vikings, the team he played for the previous six seasons, treated him well in contract negotiations.

“The bottom line is Minnesota was great through the process,” he said. “They were honest.”

But he believed if he had a future with the Vikings, it would be on a series of one-year contracts while they tried to find their quarterback of the future.

Meanwhile, the Falcons gave Cousins, who will be 36 when the season begins, the largest total value free-agency contract in NFL history. He is guaranteed $90 million in the deal’s first two years.

“I did feel like I had a great thing going with Minnesota, so it was really going to take a really special opportunity not to continue with Minnesota, and that’s really what Atlanta provided when I looked at the roster and what we would have here on the field and off the field,” Cousins said. “Certainly a big change, but feel good about where we landed.”

Cousins and his wife, Julie, were surprised when the Falcons drafted Penix. Still, the situation felt familiar considering Washington drafted him in 2012, the same year the team drafted Robert Griffin III. Cousins arrived at Michigan State the same year as Nick Foles.

“You’ve got to earn everything,” Cousins said. “You just have to go out and play the best you can and believe that if you play well at the quarterback position, there will always be a team or a market for you to be able to keep playing.”

Cousins also played a game of word association with the names of his current and former coaches, calling Atlanta’s Raheem Morris “positive” and making a comparison between Morris and former Dallas head coach Jimmy Johnson.

The circumstances that threw Cousins and Penix together don’t seem to have caused any bad blood between the two in Atlanta’s training camp.

“He’s great,” Penix said of Cousins last week. “He’s so smart. I just continue to learn from him and watch what he does day in and day out and how he carries himself and how he leads the offense. I make sure I’m taking that in.”

The Falcons players stay in four-person apartments behind the team’s practice facility for training camp, and Cousins and Penix share a suite with third-string quarterback Taylor Heinicke and tight end Kyle Pitts. There’s not much bonding with the quarterbacks in that room, though, Pitts joked, because both Cousins and Penix go to bed by 9:30 p.m. every night. However, Penix did bring a tub of Cousins’ favorite snack, trail mix, on the first day of training camp.

The Falcons expect Cousins to take every practice repetition with the No. 1 offense this preseason as long as his surgically repaired Achilles tendon cooperates. Cousins has lobbied to play in at least one preseason game, but he doesn’t expect that to happen.

“I think that ask fell on deaf ears,” Cousins said. “Raheem’s model is, ‘You’re not playing.’ I think seeing live bullets and playing is helpful, but I also understand the logic of not doing it. Everything we do is calculated, and that will be, as well.”

Penix thus far has split his time between working on a secondary practice field with Atlanta’s young players and fringe roster prospects and taking 11-on-11 snaps with the second- and third-team offense against the No. 1 defense. Last week, he flashed the arm talent that first attracted the Falcons to him, throwing a beautiful back-shoulder pass to Rondale Moore for a first down and then hitting Moore in the hands on a pass that flew 55 yards in the air and landed perfectly only to be dropped. However, his unit also had several operational issues, taking two sacks, fumbling a quarterback-center exchange and committing a pre-snap penalty.

On the same day, Cousins went 15-for-16 with the first-team offense, including a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud. The relationship between Cousins and Morris seems fine, too. After Cousins’ touchdown, he ran to the head coach and initiated a leaping hip bump.

“I was cautiously approaching Kirk with a ‘wow’ look on my face and then he gave me a hip bump,” Morris said. “I had done legs earlier so I was a little weak. I have been feeling his energy the whole time. That was genuine enthusiasm. He feels good. He’s had a really good summer. Obviously, we talked about him all offseason and what he was. It was a lot of fun to see.”

Former Carolina Panthers wide receiver and current NFL Network commentator Steve Smith Sr. attended Falcons practice Saturday and said he was surprised “so many people are throwing a fit about the Falcons getting Michael Penix.”

“That’s how it used to be done,” Smith said. “It used to be you drafted the next guy when you have your guy.”

Cousins is a clear upgrade for the Falcons at quarterback, Smith said.

“You’re looking for somebody efficient who knows how to do their job,” Smith said. “I have always admired Kirk. I think he’s efficient. I think he knows what he’s doing. He knows where to go with the ball.”

The Falcons’ executives also believe Cousins is an upgrade — and a big one — although they won’t say it exactly that way.

“He’s an operator, and it fires quick between the ears,” Falcons assistant general manager Kyle Smith said Sunday. “We talk about twitch a lot athletically. He’s got twitch in his brain. When it comes to the game, it’s pretty natural to him. Accurate passer. All the things that you like. This is his team, and we’re excited about him.”

When the Falcons signed Cousins in March, they didn’t know they would be drafting a quarterback the following month, but they had never ruled out the option, Smith said in April.

“We were always looking aggressively for the heir apparent,” he said after the draft.

The Falcons entered the draft believing six quarterbacks would be taken in the first round and four of those would be selected before they picked at No. 8, Smith said. Instead, only three quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye — were off the board when it was Atlanta’s turn.

“We’re staring down the barrel at a player that we feel like can be that guy,” Smith said.

The Falcons’ decision to double up at quarterback was no more complicated than that, general manager Terry Fontenot insisted.

“If (Penix) sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position,” Fontenot said. “It’s as simple as, if you see a guy at that position you believe in, you have to take him. Kirk Cousins is our quarterback. We are very excited about Kirk and this team. Adding Michael Penix is thinking about the future.

“If you had told me in January wondering who was going to be our quarterback … that we were going to have Kirk Cousins for right now and Michael Penix for the future, I would have told you it was a pipe dream.”

(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)