The Cleveland Browns are still waiting to hear back from Russell Wilson on his decision for this offseason, one day after the team seemingly pulled out all the stops by throwing Deshaun Watson and Myles Garrett into the meeting with Wilson and the Browns' front office.
In addition to Wilson, there's still a chance the team might be willing to just take a rookie second overall - whether that's Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders - and accept that they have to really go all in on rebuilding the quarterback room as opposed to trying to build a bridge between a veteran and whichever rookie they take in the NFL draft.
Another option that lies in waiting for Cleveland? Kirk Cousins. The veteran signal caller who had great success working under then-OC Kevin Stefanski with the Minnesota Vikings is with the Atlanta Falcons now, but they don't seem to want to let him go for nothing. As they prepare to hand the reins fully over to Michael Penix Jr., they also want to get something back for Cousins in the offseason.
And that, according to one NFL insider, is why the Browns have potentially become Atlanta's mark this free agency.
Browns have become Falcons' mark for a potential Cousins trade
According to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson, the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers might be the teams the Falcons turn to to try and get meaningful assets from in a trade for Cousins services in 2025. In exchange. the team might be willing to eat some of Cousins' contract to make a trade a bit more appealing.
"The Falcons see that there aren’t enough veteran bridge quarterbacks to go around right now, and they’re not inclined to pay Cousins his guaranteed 2025 salary of $27.5 million and resolve some other team’s problem by releasing him," wrote Robinson about Atlanta's leverage this offseason.
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He added, "[Cousins] wants to start somewhere in the NFL next season, and he told Falcons owner Arthur Blank as much when they met last week. But Blank and the Falcons' front office are taking the stance that they’re paying Cousins good money and there’s nothing saying they have to pay him while also making him happy by releasing him and helping another franchise."
The Browns would have the asset, or assets, to toss in Atlanta's face to land Cousins. They have many picks in the top 100 headed into the draft. But, they're likely to not want to do that considering Cousins is basically going to be repeating his role for Cleveland that he was with Atlanta: helping the team compete until their rookie is ready to start.
So, while the Falcons definitely have a ton of leverage here, the Browns also have the picks to be able to wait things out and see if Atlanta's serious about wanting Cousins on board as a very expensive backup this season. June 1 cannot come soon enough.