PALM BEACH, Fla. — One of Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s core principles is to listen.
So, when disgruntled quarterback Kirk Cousins wanted to talk, Blank granted him an hour in a phone conversation to discuss his desire to leave the team.
“I had a long and impactful conversation with him,” Blank said at the NFL annual meeting Tuesday. “I wasn’t the first one he talked to, but he did ask to talk to me. I said, of course I will. I spent an hour on the phone with him and I took five pages of notes. … I told him that I wanted to be a really good listener and understand where he was coming from. I did that, and I shared that information with our football folks.”
The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year contract worth up to $180 million in March 2024. He played 14 games before losing his job to rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
“I think, one of the things, as you live life, there is no point in living in the past,” Blank said. “It a great point in learning from the past and reflecting on the future, but living in the past. … I think that we obviously, at the time we made a commitment to Kirk, Kirk to us.”
The Falcons were hoping Cousins’ tenure as the staring quarterback would last longer.
“The circumstances were extraordinarily different from they are today,” Blank said. “Not his fault. Not our fault. Sometimes life doesn’t always develop the way that you think is going to develop professionally or personally.”
Cousins started off hot.
He beat the Eagles in the Game 2 of the season with a late fourth-quarter drive. The Eagles would regroup and go on to win the Super Bowl. He beat Tampa Bay twice and passed for 509 yards in a win Oct. 3. But he appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in a loss to the Saints on Nov. 10.
He wasn’t the same after that game as the Falcons’ record went from 6-3 to 7-7 before the team turned to Penix.
In his meeting with coach Raheem Morris and his phone call with Blank, Cousins let the franchise know that he wanted to be a starter in the NFL.
“Kirk understands his situation and understands our own situation,” Blank said. “He understands that we committed a lot of funds to him over a period of time. … From his standpoint and from our standpoint, certainly he’d play a couple of years if not longer. Things didn’t develop that way. It’s not a matter of blame. ... Fault is for God and children.”
Blank just views Cousins situation as a change in circumstances.
“It was not anybody’s fault here,” Blank said. “It was just what developed and what happened.”
The Falcons repeatedly have stated that they would do what’s best for the franchise.
“I told him that we’d be as thoughtful and sensitive to him as we can be,” Blank said. “We have responsibility to the franchise, which we do. He understood that.”
After getting benched, Cousins stated that he didn’t forget how to play football. The week of the Super Bowl he acknowledged that he was injured in the game against the Saints.
“He wanted to make himself clear in terms of his own situation, which I thanked him for,” Blank said. “I understand. We’ll have to see how things play out.”
While the Falcons sort out what’s best for the franchise, they are expecting Cousins to be professional.
“I will say this about Kirk, this is an individual who’s been in the league, this is year number 14 I think coming up,” Blank said. “He’s been not only an extraordinary player, but an extraordinary human being. Representing himself, representing his faith, representing his family, representing his values in the National Football League at the highest possible level.”
Blank is not sure of the timing of the team’s next move.
“So, I figure at the end of the day, what happens, will happen,” Blank said. “Maybe something predraft, draft, post-draft. I don’t know. But he understands what our needs are, and he understands what we have to do as a franchise.”
Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Raheem Morris repeatedly have referred to Cousins as the team’s “backup quarterback.” Cousins is a four-time Pro Bowler and is set to turn 37 in August.
He has received $100 million of the money on his contract.
“We already paid him,” Blank said.
The Falcons are not willing to acknowledge that Cousins might not want to work as a backup with Penix.
“I think Michael does have a clean slate,” Blank said. “He’s the starting quarterback. Everybody in the room understands that ... Kirk is a consummate professional as a football player and as a human being.”
Blank is aware that the franchise, which essentially has been trying to replace Matt Ryan since the 2021 pursuit of Deshaun Watson, spent a lot of money on Cousins to play 14 games. The team is hoping to recoup something for him, possibly via a trade.
His contract likely would have to be restructured to make a trade possible.
“You make investments in a lot of situations, I’ve never been a risk-averse kind of person,” Blank said. “You make ... very thoughtful plans. It was an excellent plan from our standpoint. From Kirk’s standpoint, he made a wise financial investment, an investment in a good franchise, I think. I think the team had it well thought out. It ended up not being that way.”
Now, that the Falcons have listened to Cousins, there will come a time for Blank’s response.
Responding is the core principle after listening.
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