News came out on March 11 that the Atlanta Falcons intend to sign Kirk Cousins to a 4-year, $180 million contract to be the new starting quarterback.

Cousins was formerly the quarterback for the Washington Commanders and then the Minnesota Vikings, where he has put up serviceable numbers in both stops he’s been at. However, Cousins is coming off a torn achilles injury which ended his season prematurely.

Cousins also entered the league back in 2012, the same year that my 500th LinkedIn connection (cheap plug) Robert Griffin III was drafted. Ironically, Cousins was Griffin’s backup, but I digress.

That would put him at 35 years old today, and 36 by the time he takes the field for the Falcons in September.

That makes this Falcons fan… a bit uneasy.

My first reaction when the Falcons got Kirk Cousins? Sell the team. Harsh, I know. 

But, of course, that was surface level processing on my part. I’ve had a little time to dig past the surface level and I have thoughts about this deal. I’d like to go over the good the bad of Mr. “You Like That!” to see if I do indeed really like that.

The bad

I’m typically an optimist, but in this case I’d like to start with the bad of signing Cousins.

My first immediate concern is his health. As I previously stated, Cousins is coming off an achilles injury. Those types of injuries are no joke to come back from. They have made great players turn into lesser versions of themselves, and I’m afraid we could see the same for Cousins.

My second concern is his age. Again – Cousins is 35, about to be 36. When we traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in 2022, Ryan was 36. At that point the Falcons fan base had already claimed that Ryan’s time had passed and that he was washed, which was sort of true.

Which leads me to point number three – his contract.

Cousins is guaranteed $100 million over the next three years, with $45 million annually over the next two years. This means we have at least a two year commitment to Cousins.

Combine these three elements and you have a 36-year-old quarterback coming off an achilles injury who will make $90 million guaranteed over the next two years and could have the chance to be a $45 million annual quarterback should he stay the next four years.

It sounds like a recipe for disaster. Par for the course for Falcons fans I suppose.

The good

Cousins is by far the best quarterback we’ve had in the last four seasons. This includes the latter years of Ryan, Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. 

The ex-Viking is a proven, capable starting quarterback that can provide stability at a position that is vital to have in this day and age.

One of my critical points of Cousins is that he is an “average” quarterback. I still sort of agree.

But when you look at Cousins’ stats from the last few years, he's actually a bit better than average. Before going down due to injury, he threw for 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. This was easily the best he has ever played.

Let’s add that and pair it with our current weapons that we have. 

Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts and whoever else we may get in the draft or free agency are all there. So often the criticism has been that these guys were underutilized or misused, but they’ve also not had a competent quarterback or coach to utilize them correctly. Now, we have both.

Additionally, signing Cousins also gives us the chance to take the best player available at pick number eight, and not have to worry about going for broke at quarterback.

So… Do I like that?

Sort of? Maybe? I don’t know?

It’s hard to measure how I feel about the signing because I see the potential.

I also see how this could go horribly wrong.

I also am relieved that we (probably) don’t have to put up with another year of instability at the quarterback position and that we have a real chance at being successful.

But is it super bowl caliber successful? Time will tell. 

Falcons fans, how do you feel about the Cousins signing?