The Atlanta Falcons are officially keeping Kirk Cousins on its roster.
And the March 15 deadline has come and gone is significant because it makes Cousins’ pockets a whole lot fatter.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Field Yates broke the news that gives Cousins a $10 million bonus.
‘The Falcons officially will be keeping QB Kirk Cousins on their roster past 4 PM eastern today, triggering a guarantee on a $10M roster bonus that is due in 2026,’ Schefter posted on X.
‘This brings his guaranteed money earned from his Falcons deal to $100,000,000,’ Yates added.
Almost a year to the day, Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta last offseason with $90 million guaranteed.
He earned $62.5 million guaranteed in 2024.
And will earn another $27.5 million guaranteed in 2025.
And with Saturday’s announcement and $10 million roster bonus, the Falcons will have officially paid Cousins $100 million for just 14 starts.
That’s because the 36-year-old quarterback was benched by rookie Michael Penix Jr. at the end of the season.
The Falcons drafted Penix with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, much to the surprise of Cousins.
The plan was for Penix to eventually take the reins of the franchise down the line, but due to Cousins’ struggles, he was thrust into the starting role a lot sooner than expected.
In 14 games, Cousins threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, completing 66.9% of his passes.
The Falcons are now set to move forward with Penix as its QB1 which has led to speculation on whether or not Atlanta will move Cousins who has also suggested he was playing through injury last year..
They are clearly in no hurry to do so, and don’t have to do anything if they don’t want to.
They are paying him either way.
General manager Terry Fontenot has already gone on record saying he would be comfortable having Cousins backup Penix.
“We are very comfortable moving forward with (Cousins) as backup,” Fontenot said during his end-of-season press conference Jan. 9.
“Kirk is a great man, and he’s been great support for Mike. We are very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
They won’t say it publicly, but Atlanta would love to move on from Cousins and have someone else front the bill.
There have been rumors linking Cousins to the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
All teams who currently have big questions marks at the quarterback position, the Giants and Steelers are reportedly in the mix for Aaron Rodgers along with the Minnesota Vikings, with Russell Wilson is also an option.
ESPN’s Falcons beat reporter, Marc Raimondi, has reported that Cousins was “frustrated” by the situation and demotions, and that it was “no secret he wants to be a starter somewhere.”
For now, it looks like that won’t happen.
But it is longtime between now and September.
Who knows what will happen?
What’s certain however, is that Cousins continues to rake it in.
Say what you want about Cousins the quarterback, but he has made the most out of his career, when it comes to his financials – centered around two lucrative free agency moves.
Per Spotrac, Cousins has guaranteed himself $331.6M earned over his 14-year career (and counting).
To put that into perspective, Tom Brady earned $332M in 23 seasons.
And as of now, Cousins is being paid handsomely to ride the bench.
Not bad for a QB2.
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