• Perfect fit: The Falcons were a competent quarterback play away from being a good team a season ago. They won seven games with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke each grading in the 50s and combining for 35 turnover-worthy plays against just 17 big-time throws. Cousins isn’t just a competent quarterback, he’s a very good one.
• Better protection: Atlanta can also boast an offensive line arguably better than any that has been put in front of Cousins over his career thus far. Atlanta’s line ranked second in the league last season in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, allowing just 130 total pressures over the year, 72 fewer than Minnesota.
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One team’s problematic contract is another team’s savior — such is the nature of free agency and, in particular, this year when the Minnesota Vikings found themselves outbid by a team acutely aware of the grass not always being greener on the other side.
Wary of the rolling three-year fully guaranteed contracts that Cousins has been playing under, the Vikings decided to put a stop to them and let him explore the open market. At 35 years old and coming off an Achilles injury, they could be forgiven for thinking his market would not be red hot, but there is always a quarterback-needy team out there, and those teams are invariably desperate.
Enter the Atlanta Falcons, who were willing to give Cousins a four-year deal with $100 million guaranteed. Even if that deal is functionally only a two-year contract with ways out for the Falcons, it’s a financial place the Vikings were not willing to travel to.
Cousins to the Falcons is a perfect fit for a number of reasons, and it works for both sides.
Firstly, the Falcons were a competent quarterback play away from being a good team a season ago. They won seven games with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke each grading in the 50s and combining for 35 turnover-worthy plays against just 17 big-time throws.
Their quarterbacks ranked 42nd and 45th out of 49 quarterbacks that had 100 or more dropbacks last season. Cousins ranked ninth before his Achilles injury took him out, and he has averaged an 84.2 PFF grade over the last five seasons.
He isn’t just a competent quarterback, he’s a very good one, albeit one who will likely never put himself into the very top echelon of quarterbacks where the likes of Patrick Mahomes reside. With Zac Robinson as offensive coordinator, it’s also effectively the same system he has been running for the past two seasons in Minnesota under Kevin O’Connell. Both coaches are Sean McVay disciples, with Robinson leaving the Rams this offseason to take the job. The schematic transition should be seamless.
Offensive line
Atlanta can also boast an offensive line arguably better than any that has been put in front of Cousins over his career thus far. Cousins hasn’t necessarily needed an elite offensive line in front of him, but the older quarterbacks get, the bigger an issue protection becomes. Anybody who watched the Netflix documentary “Quarterback” saw a clear depiction of the beating Cousins took during a season where the Vikings offensive line was far from its lowest ebb.
Atlanta’s line ranked second in the league last season in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, allowing just 130 total pressures over the year, 72 fewer than Minnesota. Even if this was aided by the most run-heavy scheme in football, at the very minimum it’s a unit that should be an upgrade from Cousins’ perspective and give the new offense a solid platform from which to function.
Receivers
Atlanta also has a group of receiving weaponry that can be special. Drake London caught 69 passes for 905 yards last season with the aforementioned inept quarterback situation. His overall PFF grade was 78.9, and he is a contested-catch savant, snaring 51.5% of those throws with just three drops all season. Cousins has the ability to give him opportunities to turbocharge his production.
Kyle Pitts has been a constant source of frustration for fantasy managers everywhere, but liberated from Arthur Smith’s offense remains a unique matchup weapon at the tight end position, and one with the position flexibility to move all over the formation. The backfield is absolutely stacked. Bijan Robinson is obviously the star name there.
New signing Darnell Mooney provides a perfect complement to Pitts and London as a deep threat, and his average depth of target likely increases in this offense from a career mark of 11.7 yards. There is still work to do filling out the rest of the receiving corps, but this is a great draft to do so, and as a baseline, this is an excellent group to work with.
Lastly, signing Cousins now frees up the eighth overall pick in the draft to add a real impact playmaker to this team, or trade down and accumulate more capital to add yet more players. The Falcons already rebuilt their defense over the last couple of seasons, but still need more help on that side, while snagging one of the best receivers in the draft inside the top 10 to add to those weapons already outlined will surely be attractive as well.
The unknown
The only major unknown is what Cousins will look like coming off an Achilles injury at his age. A few things in that regard provide reasons for a hopeful outlook. Firstly, Cousins has never relied on his athleticism or scrambling ability. He can slide in the pocket and move in short areas, but never relied on any kind of physical explosiveness that might be sapped by the injury.
Secondly, 35 years old isn’t what it used to be for players who take care of their bodies as modern-day professionals. Tom Brady was still cooking at 45, and Aaron Rodgers looked physically as good at 40 as he did at 30 before his Achilles gave way. Cousins has always done what he can in that area to squeeze every last drop out of his talent, and that will likely stand him in good stead as he ages. Finally, and this is obviously the most critical piece of evidence, Cousins was able to perform a dance number at NFL Honors just 100 days after his injury.
The Minnesota Vikings weren’t willing to give Cousins the contract he wanted this offseason, but the Atlanta Falcons were, and in doing so they’ve snagged a quarterback immediately capable of taking them to postseason play in the NFC South.
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