As the Cleveland Browns try to search for their next starting quarterback following the Deshaun Watson nightmare, one veteran stopgap that has frequently been mentioned as a stopgap option is much-beleaguered Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Cousins, who is fresh off a down season with the Falcons in which he led the league in interceptions despite not playing in the last three games, won't cost a ton of money and has a past connection with head coach Kevin Stefanski dating back to their time in Minnesota.
Cousins going back to Cleveland, especially after Top 10 pick Michael Penix Jr. displaced him as the starter, makes a ton of sense for player and team alike. However, Falcons GM Terry Fontenot made it very clear that he is not going to give Cousins up so easily.
Fontenot said that Cousins' future with the team is not in doubt, hinting that the plan for 2025 is to move forward with Penix as the starter and Cousins as the backup. The Browns' quarterback options were thin, to begin with, and they would shrink even further if this came to fruition.
Kirk Cousins may not become available for Browns in 2025 offseason
Cousins is now more than a year removed from his Achilles tear, which could lead some optimists to believe he could perform better than he did in Atlanta, where he was severely lacking in mobility. Cousins would be a better option than any of the quarterbacks Cleveland relied on last year.
The Browns have the opportunity to draft a player like Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders with the No. 2 overall pick, but the lack of talent on the roster could be akin to throwing either of those two into a meat grinder. Cousins' veteran savvy could help the offense gain a degree of consistency they haven't had in the past.
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Cousins still has three years left on his Falcons contract, including one year that is fully guaranteed. The Falcons would need to eat a huge chunk of dead cap for Cousins to even become available, further illustrating what a wretched decision it was for Fontenot to both sign Cousins and draft Penix.
The Browns may be the one guy left with no one to dance with at the prom, as the Falcons are ensuring Cousins stays by the punch bowl and away from a Cleveland team that needs an answer to this problem as soon as possible.