Can Falcons Cut or Trade Kirk Cousins After Benching?

Breaking down the financials of the Atlanta Falcons' decision to bench quarterback Kirk Cousins for rookie Michael Penix Jr.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins may depart the franchise just one year into his four-year deal. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons did what once seemed financially impossible: bench starting quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Atlanta announced in a press release Tuesday it will start first-round rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in Sunday's game against the New York Giants.

But what's it mean for Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million contract in March with $90 million guaranteed over the first two seasons?

Here's the financial implications and potential moves the Falcons can make moving forward, courtesy of NFL Network's Tom Pelissero:

• "Release him before March 16, 2025 (no-post June 1 designation): They'd still owe him $27.5 million fully guaranteed cash and carry a $65M dead cap hit in 2025.
  
  * Release him before March 16 (post-June 1 designation): Same cash, but they'd spread the dead cap hit over two years: $40M in 2025 (his scheduled number) and $25M in 2026.
  
  * Trade him before June 1, 2025 (which he'd need to agreed to): They'd carry a dead cap number of $37.5M in 2025, but save $27.5M in cash and $2.5M in cap, depending on how much of the $27.5 million the trade partner was willing to take on. They could save at most $27.5-million.
  
  If Cousins remains on the Atlanta roster as of March 16, another $10M in 2026 would become fully guaranteed -- not impossible, but practically unfathomable after the decision today.
  
  Benching him now also avoids a situation where Cousins could get hurt in the final three games and lock in that additional $10M, which is guaranteed for injury."

In essence, Morris's decision severely puts into doubt Cousins' future in Atlanta beyond this season. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport dubbed Cousins' contract "tradable" if a team believes in the 36-year-old's skill set.

It's been reported that Cousins has a no-trade clause, but with his career winding down, he'd most certainly approve a trade for a starting chance at another team rather than hold a clipboard for Penix.

The question becomes, would a team be willing to trade for Cousins knowing they could get him as a free agent if/when the Falcons cut him? Russell Wilson and Derek Carr were in similar situations in each of the last-two years with the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders respectively. Both players ended up being waived with no-additional compensation in return.

$65-million would be the second-biggest dead-cap hit in NFL history, eclipsing the $85-million the Denver Broncos took on by waiving Russell Wilson before his contract extension had even begun.

The Falcons recently got out of "cap-hell" after trading Matt Ryan and taking on a then-record $40-million dead-cap hit.

The Falcons won't be eager to take so much dead money after finally emerging from cap trauma created by former general manager Thomas Dimitroff, but they can't seem to help themselves when it comes to blowing Arthur Blank's money on aging quarterbacks.