Over his final five starts, Cousins threw only one touchdown and nine interceptions while the Falcons went just 1-4. He later said he suffered right elbow and right shoulder injur

The Atlanta Falcons have plenty of work to do this NFL offseason. Atlanta finished the regular season 8-9 and missed the NFC playoffs. Now the Falcons must transition into offseason mode and attempt to fix what went wrong last season.

For the fourth year in a row, the Atlanta Falcons will enter the season with a different starting quarterback. Michael Penix Jr. took over for Kirk Cousins in Week 16 of the 2024 season and the team isn't looking back.

Fontenot said Tuesday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis that Cousins is still the Falcons' backup amid talks of a potential trade or release when free agency opens March 12.

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The Falcons may not trade Kirk Cousins this offseason for financial reasons, which could lead to the quarterback being cut.

Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot indicated Tuesday that he would be comfortable keeping Cousins as the NFL’s most expensive backup in the second year of the four-year, $180 million free-agent contract that he signed last offseason.

Cousins and the Falcons got off to a good start last season, but poor play and injury issues revealed after the fact slowed the quarterback down along with Atlanta's offense. Eventually the Falcons benched Cousins in favor of Penix, but it was too late to make the playoffs.

The conventional thinking around the NFL is that the Falcons will release QB Kirk Cousins to avoid another $10 million of his contract becoming guaranteed in 2026.