The Atlanta Falcons surprised the NFL world when they followed their significant free agent investment in former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins by taking University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Any sort of quarterback controversy took a while to materialize, until Cousins' performance erosion put him on the bench in favor of Penix for the final three games last season.
The Falcons then fully committed to Penix as their starting quarterback, as expected, while remaining steadfast in the idea that they will retain Cousins as a highly paid backup, barring something unforeseen. If they did trade Cousins, they surely want the acquiring team to take on a large chunk of the remaining money he is owed.
Penix has not been all that good in two of three games so far this season, and he was pulled in favor of Cousins before the end of a surprising 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3.
That move has brought questions about a potential quarterback change, which Falcons' head coach Raheem Morris tried to put to rest immediately by saying "no" when asked if Cousins would compete for the starting job this week.
It's very clear Cousins wanted to go somewhere he could start during the offseason, perhaps outside of one team where that wasn't on the table. He has been left in the unideal position of hoping for a team to lose their starting quarterback, and subsequently have the desire to trade for him.
Raheem Morris' words are exactly what ex-Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins needed to hear
Morris spoke with reporters again on Wednesday, and of course, the quarterback thing came up again. Morris concisely put the issue to bed, probably never to be resuscitated if Falcons' reporters know what's good for them.
"Kirk lost his job last year", Morris said. "We're not even close to that with Mike. He had a bad game."
If Cousins needed a blunt reality check about the possibility of ever starting another game for the Falcons, Morris gave it to him in public fashion.
As long as Penix is healthy, the Falcons are sticking with him. While some might say they shouldn't force things to justify drafting him where they did, the reality is he has made just six NFL starts, and he will get some leeway purely associated with that.
If these same conversations are being had about Penix's lackluster play several weeks from now, then the conversation about benching him will change. But Morris made it clear it's not close to happening.
The Falcons have not been very realistic about Cousins' trade value, but Morris's "he lost his job last year" comment could be interpreted as a declaration to any interested teams that he's available.
While it would go against his "capitalist quarterback" grain, Cousins might be open to a contract adjustment (i.e., a pay cut) to facilitate a trade in light of what Morris said.
In any case, Cousins' desire to be elsewhere if he's not the Falcons' starter seems to be a step closer to reality.