Will he or won’t he? That was the lingering question surrounding whether Kirk Cousins would return to the Minnesota Vikings. All doubts were erased once he agreed to a lucrative contract with the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.
For the #Falcons and Kirk Cousins, it's a 4-year deal worth $180M ($45M average per year). He gets $90M over the first two years and $50M to sign. https://t.co/LlnzEjq259
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2024
There’s the obvious concern gamers will have about whether Cousins’ torn Achilles tendon is healthy, and one can safely believe there’s no way the Falcons would guarantee that kind of money without being confident in his recovery. He will officially sign as soon as Wednesday after passing a physical.
Cousins has one of the better offensive lines in his new confines, and the Falcons boast three of the most talented young players across the league in running back Bijan Robinson, wideout Drake London, and TE Kyle Pitts. Expect Atlanta to add more pieces at wide receiver, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the brass brings in a veteran presence to pair with Pitts at tight end. Getting London to take the next step to becoming a true WR1 and seeing Pitts finally live up to his potential seems well within reach due to Cousins’ penchant to get the most out of his playmakers.
Fantasy football outlook
The Achilles injury will be fully healed in time for Cousins to build chemistry with his new teams and shouldn’t factor into his fantasy stock. Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson will implement a system that is awfully familiar to Cousins. Both Robinson and former Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell come from the Sean McVay tree.
The veteran has earned the right to be a low-end QB1 on draft day, and there will be weeks in which Cousins resides among the strongest performers at the position.