This time next week, the Falcons could have their quarterback. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports he’s getting “very credible indications” that Kirk Cousins is “seriously considering moving his family to Atlanta.” Florio notes that Cousins’ wife is from Alpharetta. We note Florio’s use of the adverbs “very” and “seriously.”
Officially, NFL free agency starts Wednesday. Unofficially, free agents-to-be might already be looking at houses. One word of caution: Real estate can be the reddest of herrings.
Al McGuire was said to be shopping for house if not a full-blown horse farm in Fayette County because he was coming to coach Kentucky. Jon Gruden commissioned a regiment of Knoxville realtors – such whispers became known as “Grumors” – ahead of his impending arrival in Big Orange Country. Shaquille O’Neal was bound for your Atlanta Hawks because he had a house here. None of those things happened.
(To be fair, Shaq has long owned property in the area. He likes Atlanta. He just didn’t want any part of the Hawks.)
Back to Cousins: The closer we come to Day 1 of free agency, the more inevitable this seems. He’s a 35-year-old quarterback – 36 in August – in search of a last big contract and a first extended playoff run. The Falcons, on a streak of six losing seasons, have become one of those teams with everything but a quarterback. Sign the guy and fire up the Super Bowl bandwagon, am I right?
Such a giddy scenario might not – apologies for the double negative – be wrong. There’s not a better everything-but-a-quarterback team out there. The Steelers don’t have such talent on offense, though they’ve shed the overmatched OC Matt Canada. (They now have Arthur Smith, lately of Flowery Branch.) Also: Ms. Julie Cousins isn’t from Aliquippa, Pa.
That said, the everything-but-a-quarterback tag was slapped on the Colts when they made the hasty trade for Matt Ryan two springs ago. Ryan was about to turn 37, but he – unlike, say, Cousins – had been the NFL’s MVP. How’d that work out for Indy?
The Colts started 3-5-1, whereupon they benched Ryan, leaving the everything-but-a-quarterback club with Round 6 draftee Sam Ehlinger as QB1. After thee Ehlinger starts, they fired head coach Frank Reich, replacing him wih Jeff Saturday, whose previous coaching experience was with Hebron Christian Academy of Dacula, Ga. Saturday unbenched Ryan. Then he re-benched him. Ryan now works for CBS. Satuday again works for ESPN.
Does Cousins have more left than Ryan did? You’d have to think so – though, if you’re the Falcons, you’d better know so. Has Cousins suffered a recent major injury? Er, yes. He tore an Achilles tendon in October – but that’s his leg, not his arm. Which, if memory serves, is what the Braves said of Michael Soroka.
And here you’re saying: “If your intent is to make the case for Cousins, we can be glad you opted against law school. F. Lee Bailey you ain’t.”
To which I say: guilty as charged. I do have reservations re: Cousins. He has presided over only two 10-win seasons, the most recent of which reads as a statistical impossibility. The 2022 Vikings went 13-4 while being outscored. Then again, Cousins led eight game-winning drives that year. Then again, those Vikes were one-and-done in postseason, losing at home to the Giants of Daniel Jones.
If you’re a 7-10 team and you sign a big-ticket QB, you’re not eyeing 9-8 as the promised land. You’re looking to win in January, too. Cousins has started four playoff games. Of those, his team won one. Four games aren’t a large sample size, but that’s the point: The NBA’s Mr. Butler is Playoff Jimmy; the NFL’s Mr. Cousins isn’t Playoff Kirk.
If you’re looking to win now, Cousins is the guy. If you’re looking to win beyond 2026, he’s not. And if you’re looking to win a Super Bowl, he mightn’t be that guy, either. I have greater reservations about Russell Wilson, but he does have a ring. And he is available.
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