PALM BEACH, Florida – Conventional wisdom, it was suggested to Arthur Blank, would be to clear the deck for Michael Penix, Jr. and not have the presence of former starter Kirk Cousins as part of the atmosphere in the Atlanta Falcons quarterback room.
Best for Penix to have a clean slate?
“Well, I think Michael does have a clean slate. He’s the starting quarterback,” the Falcons owner replied. “And everybody in the room understands that.”
Blank clearly gets the predicament. Cousins, demoted in December, didn’t come to the Falcons last year on a four-year, $180 million contract – with $100 million guaranteed — to ride the bench. Blank heard such a sentiment directly from Cousins during an hour-long conversation recently, when the owner said he took five pages of notes.
If Cousins stays, it’s fair to wonder how synergy will flow behind the scenes.
Sure, Cousins, 36, has always been a class act. But the 14th-year vet hasn’t been a backup since the early days of his NFL career in Washington.
“Kirk is a consummate professional as a football player and as a human being,” Blank said during a session with a small group of media, including USA TODAY Sports, at the NFL league meetings this week. “I think Kirk will do what he needs to do. He’ll show up when he needs to show up. I think he’ll do what his heart and spirit allows him to do. I never see him as being a divisive individual. I don’t think it’s in him to be that way.
“With certain personalities, you might worry a little bit. I’m not really worried about that.”
Conventional what?
Blank doesn’t rule out the possibility of a trade – a reunion between Cousins and Kevin Stefanski with the quarterback-needy Cleveland Browns has fueled much speculation – but also concurs with coach Raheem Morris in maintaining that he is comfortable having the veteran as a pricey backup. Never mind if Cousins wouldn’t be comfortable in that role.
As Blank put it, “We’ve already paid him.”
Forget “conventional” wisdom. There’s also the thinking that having invested $100 million into Cousins, the Falcons have secured some expensive insurance.
After all, it’s the NFL. Even if Penix flourishes as the starter, there’s always risk. Unless there’s a trade offer that they can’t refuse, it will be best for the Falcons to hang on to Cousins for an emergency as the NFL’s best backup. After all, they’ve paid for that right.
“I’ve had that conversation,” Blank said. “And I see it, significantly, through that lens. In this league…the quarterback position is right in the center of everything. When you have a starting quarterback, God forbid, even with all the protection the league affords with rules and equipment, etcetera, players get hurt on occasion. And it could be the quarterback.”
In other words, whether or not they keep Cousins (at least for another season), isn’t about the quarterback’s feelings or desires to start again. There’s some NFL business wisdom involved here.
“We’ve got $275 million in the salary cap, plus benefits,” Blank said. “We owe it to the franchise to make sure that we have the backup quarterback who can step in and play. Obviously, if we thought that person was better than the starting quarterback, that person would play. But you want a backup quarterback who, maybe with some modification and game plan, can give you a chance to win.”
It probably isn’t easy for Blank to consider that he committed $100 million to Cousins and the quarterback didn’t survive a full season as the starter. The Falcons started 6-3 and had a two-game lead in the NFC South in early November. Then it went sideways. After Cousins was benched, Penix started the final three games and the Falcons finished 8-9 to mark their seventh consecutive season without a winning record.
Blank, the co-founder of The Home Depot, insists that he’s never been a “risk-averse person” when it comes to investments. Against that context, and given the ability of NFL owners to essentially print money, he sees Cousins as an investment in the franchise that just hasn’t panned out.
Although Blank maintains that signing Cousins was an “excellent plan,” that’s a debatable decision tracing to GM Terry Fontenot. The Falcons overpaid for an aging pocket passer coming off a torn Achilles tendon, in a league that is increasingly dominated by mobile quarterbacks. Maybe the decision to stun the NFL universe and draft a quarterback eighth overall last April will ultimately ease the sting if Penix blossoms into a star.
Then again, Blank said of Cousins, “If we played Tampa Bay every week last year, he’d be in the Hall of Fame now.”
Cousins earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after both of his outings in October against the eventual NFC South champion Buccaneers, passing for 509 yards in the first contest and combining eight touchdown passes in the games.
Blank also maintained that while he felt the Falcons made a wise investment in the quarterback, “I think from Kirk’s standpoint, he made the wise financial investment in a good franchise.”
That point can certainly be made of another big contract for Cousins, with another huge guarantee. You can’t knock Cousins’ ability to work the NFL market over the years.
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Yet the guarantees work both ways. Even though Cousins has a no-trade clause in his deal, he gave up leverage in getting the guaranteed money.
No, the Falcons don’t expect to see Cousins during the offseason workout that begin later this month.
“If he is, we’ll welcome him with open arms,” Morris said this week. “But I’m not going to be fool enough to make myself get worked up and angry about Kirk Cousins missing voluntary workouts.”
At least that’s some type of conventional wisdom.
Follow Jarrett Bell on social media: @JarrettBell