Falcons’ Kirk Cousins admits he suffered shoulder, elbow injuries

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good,” Cousins said. “That was a bit of a clerical error because we had walk-through, and when you have walk-through, they don’t really know what you could have done or couldn’t have done. If we had a full-speed practice, I would have, I would not have been on the report because I would have done everything.”

The NFL did not immediately respond to an email from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asking if the Cousins matter would be investigated.

The Falcons' record dropped to 6-4 after the loss to the Saints. They went on to lose the next three games and drop to 6-7 on the season and drop out of first place in the NFC South. After a win over the Raiders, in which Cousins continued to play poorly, he was benched in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr.

But on the show, owned by NFL teams, he said he was indeed injured against the Saints. He was sacked three times and hit nine times in the loss to the Saints.

On one sack in the second quarter, right guard Chris Lindstrom appeared to trip up right tackle Kaleb McGary, who fell to the ground. Saints defensive end Payton Turner, running unblocked, put a big hit on Cousins, who fumbled.

Cousins never saw Turner coming. Wide receiver Drake London recovered the fumble.

Here’s what he Cousins said on the show.

“I definitely still feel like I’ve got 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. Just that’s really my focus.

“I’ve got to get healthy. I’m no good to the Falcons, I’m no good to the team if I’m not feeling really good. That’s really where my focus has been for January and February, now that the season has wound down, really taking all the time that I can to get my body feeling ready good.”

He was then asked if he recovered from his Achilles surgery.

“I think the Achilles healed well,” Cousins said. “I think there was a little bit of trying to get my right ankle back around the Achilles, but the Achilles itself healed really well. Even then, we were 6-3, playing well, doing a lot of good things even if the right ankle wasn’t perfect. Nobody is perfect in this league. We’re never feeling 100%.”

He kept going and then revealed the injury.

“It didn’t really affect me too much, but then against the Saints, I got hit pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow,” Cousins said. “From there I was kind of dealing with that. It was something that I was working through. Just could never really get it to where I wanted. Now, that the season is over I have the time and the energy to say, OK, let’s get the right ankle back, let’s get the right shoulder back, the elbow back. If we can do that, I feel like I’ve got a new life ahead of me here in pro football.”

When benching Cousins, Falcons coach Raheem Morris said it was because of his turnovers and not the injury.

After he was benched, Cousins would not use the injury or his health as an excuse.

Cousins, who signed a four-year contract worth up to $100 million, has a no-trade clause in his contract. The Falcons said that he could serve as their backup quarterback.

However, he’s due $10 million by March 12 and could be released, with the team taking on a hardy dead salary-cap hit or be the highest-paid backup in league history.

In December 2023, the Falcons were fined $75,000 and then-coach Arthur Smith $25,000 for violating the NFL injury-reporting policy before the club’s Week 7 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Robinson played only 11 offensive snaps and had one carry for 3 yards. Smith told Fox Sports at halftime of that game that Robinson was not “feeling well.”

Against Tampa Bay, Robinson’s playing time was reduced from the 61% to 81% range he played over the first six games to 17%. That likely caught the league’s attention.

The interpretation of “a player certain to play” language in the injury-reporting process and the fact that Robinson did play were the issues.