Kirk Cousins was not aware that the Atlanta Falcons were planning to select quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick in the NFL Draft. And it sounds like Cousins would have reason to be a little bit bitter about that move.
This week, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated revealed that one of the reasons Kirk Cousins decided to leave the Minnesota Vikings in the first place was because the team informed him that they intended to select a quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft.
“I do have one last take on the Atlanta Falcons’ handling of the quarterback situation. And that’s that I would 100% understand if Kirk Cousins is still stinging a bit from the whole ordeal,” Breer wrote for SI.
“Here’s why — a reason he decided to leave Minnesota is because the Vikings were very up front with the 35-year-old about the possibility that, even in the case he stayed, they’d take a quarterback of the future high in the draft. Tying that together with the team’s willingness to guarantee part, but not all, of a second year on another contract, Cousins figured that, if he stayed, there was a good shot that he’d be on the move in 2025.”
So when the Falcons went and selected a quarterback in the first round two picks higher than the Vikings selected J.J. McCarthy, it would make sense that Cousins would be a little bit upset about that.
“Still, it had to be a crappy call to take if you were Cousins, considering the basis of the decision you’d made six weeks earlier. It remains to be seen, of course, if that’ll lead to any sort of early fissure in the player-team relationship there. I think they’ll be able to get past it, because head coach Raheem Morris is a phenomenal relationship guy, and Cousins is an adult. But if there are early bumps in the season, this one will be interesting to watch,” Breer wrote.
It’s obviously a tough situation for Cousins.
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