Kirk Cousins sends message to Falcons, other teams for 2026 season

Earlier this week, Atlanta Falcons veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins revealed that he is keeping "an open mind" regarding his playing future as Falcons 2025 Week 1 starter Michael Penix Jr. recovers from the surgery he needed this past fall to repair a partially torn ACL.

During Friday's edition of NFL Network's "Good Morning Football: Overtime" program, Cousins made it clear he doesn't plan to ride off into the sunset of retirement this year.

Kirk Cousins "rejuvenated" after playing in 2025 season

"I would love to keep playing," Cousins explained, per Jeremy Bergman of the NFL's website. "I feel rejuvenated after playing last season, and I'm excited to see kind of where it can go from here."

Cousins lost the Atlanta starting job to Penix in December 2024, but the Falcons had to turn back to the 37-year-old in Week 12 of this season. Over what could go down as the final seven starts of his Atlanta tenure, Cousins went 5-2 and recorded 10 touchdown passes with five interceptions.

"Well, I've got a lot of reps," Cousins continued. "There's been a lot of years of one-year contracts, and what's going to happen next, and will you get traded? So I guess I've kind of lived it. I've learned to be pretty open-minded. And here we are again."

Previous reports shared that Cousins would be released before March 13 if he and the Falcons don't come to terms on a reworked agreement before that date. That said, new Falcons president of football Matt Ryan, new general manager Ian Cunningham and new head coach Kevin Stefanski seem at least open to Cousins beginning the 2026 season atop Atlanta's depth chart. 

Penix wants to play in Week 1 this coming September, but it's too early to say if he'll be cleared for action by then. Meanwhile, Cousins had Stefanski as a quarterbacks coach and then as an offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 and 2019.

"You don't really know what's going to happen come March," Cousins continued. "I've learned that February is really quiet, which is really nice. You just kind of go away and disappear and go sit on a beach, and then you know that March is coming. My agent Mike McCartney has kind of always handled that. We're on the phone a lot in March. It's kind of been a rite of passage every March. Mike and I are talking all the time. My wife knows, 'Mike McCartney's calling. Can I disappear for a while?' But that'll come in March and we'll see where it goes."

The Vikings, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals are among the teams that potentially could be interested in Cousins before the new league year officially begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 11. For what it's worth, Cousins played well under Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell from September 2022 up until the signal-caller suffered a torn Achilles in October 2023.