Atlanta Falcons proprietor Arthur Clean made a agency assertion about Kirk Cousins’ future with the group, and made it very clear {that a} commerce is, at the very least for now, not within the offing.
Clean mentioned the Falcons are completely joyful to let Cousins sit on the bench behind Michael Penix Jr. as an alternative of buying and selling him. In Clean’s thoughts, the Falcons are paying for the luxurious of getting a dependable backup quarterback within the occasion one thing occurs to Penix.
“We’ve acquired $275 million within the wage cap, plus advantages,” Clean mentioned, via Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “We owe it to the franchise to make it possible for we now have the backup quarterback who can step in and play. Clearly, if we thought that particular person was higher than the beginning quarterback, that particular person would play. However you desire a backup quarterback who, possibly with some modification and recreation plan, can provide you an opportunity to win.”
Clean added that he’s not involved that Cousins will trigger issues whereas sitting on the bench. He additionally argued that there was no actual have to commerce the quarterback, because the crew “already paid him.”
The Falcons proprietor is right on that final level. In the event that they have been going to maneuver Cousins, it could have made extra sense to take action before the quarterback’s roster bonus kicked in. Not shifting on from him earlier than then was its personal clear assertion.
This can be strategic on Clean’s half to maintain some commerce leverage intact. The rumors certainly have not quieted down, and it’s no secret that Cousins needs to be traded to a crew the place he might need an opportunity to begin. If the Falcons proceed to state they won’t commerce Cousins, different groups may really feel compelled to make extra aggressive gives in the event that they really need him.
Cousins is getting into the second yr of a four-year, $180 million contract he signed with Atlanta a yr in the past. The fact is that groups usually are not going to be desperate to tackle that deal, which leaves the Falcons in a spot the place they could merely need to hold him whether or not they prefer it or not.
