Kirk Cousins: My focus right now is on getting healthy

Kirk Cousins’s football future is unclear at the moment, but he knows that any hopes of returning to life as a quality starting quarterback will require him to be in top physical form.

Cousins didn’t look like he was in that kind of shape after returning from a torn Achilles in 2024 and his diminishing returns over the course of the season led the Falcons to bench him as they tried to beat out the Buccaneers for the NFC South title in the final weeks. They couldn’t pull that off, but making the move to first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. means that the path back to the first team is blocked in Atlanta.

During an appearance on NFL Network Tuesday, Cousins said he’s prioritizing his health over any discussions of where he’ll play for the time being.

“I definitely feel like I have a lot of good football left in me,” Cousins said. “Time will tell. It’s still kind of uncertain. We’ll get to March and know a lot more. But I think the focus for me really is getting healthy. That’s really my focus is I gotta get healthy. I’m no good to the Falcons, I’m no good to a team if I’m not feeling really good. That’s really where my focus has been through January and February now that the season has wound down, really taking all the time I can to get my body feeling really good.”

Cousins said he feels his Achilles is OK, but that his right ankle had issues and that his right shoulder and elbow were injured in Week 10.

Cousins has a no-trade clause and is guaranteed $27.5 million for next season with another $10 million will be guaranteed early in the new league year, so moving on from him would make for a sizable cap hit. Falcons G.M. Terry Fontenot said he’s comfortable with Cousins backing Penix up, but it remains to be seen which way the Falcons will actually go once the offseason gets going.

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