Kirk Cousins makes the closing argument for his next chapter

Kirk Cousins woke up on Sunday morning with an illness. At some point before too long, he'll wake up on another cash-stuffed mattress.

After Atlanta's Thursday night upset of the Bucs, featuring 373 passing yards and three touchdowns, we flagged the possibility of Cousins making another sizable payday on the open market. Whatever he makes will add to career earnings of $321 million.

Advertisement

Cousins, who engineered an upset of the Rams on Monday night for a third straight win, may be playing well enough to get the Falcons to keep him. Of course, they'd have to be willing to pay him $45 million for 2026. It's unlikely that Cousins would take a penny less than he's owed, since he's still likely feeling justifiably salty from the Falcons drafting his replacement 43 days after he signed a deal with $100 million guaranteed.

There's also a chance that the Falcons may be able to engineer a trade market for Cousins, possibly without having to pay much of the money he's owed.

Either way, Cousins has played his way into having real options for 2026, with potential destinations including the Jets, the Browns, the Raiders, the Vikings, and the Cardinals.

How he plays against the Saints in the most meaningful meaningless game of Week 18, which will determine whether the Panthers or Buccaneers win the NFC South, Cousins has one last chance to send a message that there's still plenty more football to be played — and plenty more money to be made.