Nice guys finish second string.
By allowing a $10 million roster bonus due next year to become fully guaranteed, the Falcons remain committed to the notion that Kirk Cousins will be the team’s backup quarterback, behind Michael Penix, Jr. Whether that’s true or just part of the ruse in advance of a trade remains to be seen.
Regardless, the Falcons have no qualms about squatting on Cousins’s contract.
Although Cousins has played the NFL contract game like a maestro, he’s always been a company man. He won’t make waves. He won’t cause a fuss. He won’t issue demands.
Maybe he should. More accurately, maybe he should have made a stink from the moment the Falcons pulled the rug out from under him last year, drafting Penix roughly six weeks after giving Cousins what is now $100 million in fully-guaranteed pay.
Remember when Cousins was asked whether he wouldn’t have signed with the Falcons, if he’d known that they’d use the eighth pick in the draft on his replacement? Cousins said he doesn’t want to address hypotheticals. He could have said, “It’s bullshit. They should have told me they were thinking about this. It would have been a factor in my decision. I’m not happy. And I’m not going to shut up about it.”
Cousins was a “pro’s pro” (i.e., obedient and compliant) when the Falcons benched him. He could have made a stink. He didn’t. And while it might have been counterproductive to do shirtless driveway situps or to have his agent hold a “next question” press conference on the front lawn, there’s a way to strategically, and legitimately, make enough of a fuss that the Falcons would think twice about keeping him around.
Meeting with the owner was all Cousins did. We don’t know what he specifically wanted. We don’t know what Blank said. Presumably, Cousins didn’t want what he currently has: A seat on the bench.
If he wants out, he’s going to have to rattle the cage. He’s going to have to express his displeasure. He’s going to need to challenge the team’s decision to pay him $27.5 million to not play.
Basically, he’s going to have to stop being a nice guy.
