The Atlanta Falcons gave the impression following the regular season that they have no problem keeping
But it's becoming quite apparent that Cousins will have a problem with that. For that reason along with "a multitude of" other reasons, NFL insider Jason La Confora strongly argued the Falcons shouldn't have Cousins on their roster next season.
"No way in hell," La Canfora told The Steakhouse's Mark Zinno on 92.9 The Game. "No, it's not going to happen.
"I don't believe he's in any rush to sort this out," La Canfora added. "I think [Cousins and his camp] is going to look at situations, and they're going to look at getting him back with an established play-called who understands his strengths, and that's how they're going to rehabilitate his career."
The AJC's D. Orlando Ledbetter seemingly agreed with La Canfora while addressing Cousins' situation on X (formerly Twitter) on Feb. 6.
"Tomlin rule: NO HOSTAGES!!!"
Ledbetter, of course, is referring to Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who famously coined the phrase
The Falcons owe Cousins a $10 million roster bonus on the fifth day of the new league year in March. That's essentially the deadline for when the team needs to decide whether the quarterback will be on their roster in 2025.
Cousins is making it rather clear he doesn't want to be any part of the Falcons organization going forward. Ledbetter tweeted on Feb. 5 that he wanted to speak to the quarterback about his new injury relevation on Feb. 4,
The veteran signal caller also appears to be growing petty. Ledbetter wrote on social media that Cousins is not only declining to speak to Atlanta media, but he's moving away from wearing Falcons attire.
If there's any good news on the Cousins front, La Confora seemed to conclude that a trade is possible. I've doubted whether that will be the case because of Cousins' no-trade clause and the roster bonus he's owed in March.
With a hard deadline to devise a trade and Cousins' ability to nix any proposal, the Falcons are between a rock and a hard place.
La Confora argued Cousins' no-trade clause will make it difficult. But he implied a trade is still plausible.
“If you’re the Falcons,” said La Canfora. “You would love to get him out of the building and eradicate this Day 1 and just throw everything around Penix. But because of the structure they gave him and because of the job his agent did, they can’t just do that willy-nilly.
“Yeah, it’s going to be somewhat complicated, and they’re going to have to eat money to get him out of there. And they’re going to have to be willing to send him somewhere he wants to go, because again he’s got the no-trade, but I do believe it absolutely gets done.”
That's a different prediction from what ESPN's Adam Schefter said on Feb. 5 during NFL Live. Schefter reported the Falcons are expected to release Cousins when the new league begins on March 12.
