The Falcons locked in a steady hand in Kirk Cousins with a four-year, $180 million deal upon the opening of free agency. Cousins is 35, coming off an achilles injury, and is a pocket QB that lacks mobility down- field that is important tool for most QB’s have today. It seems like a huge gamble, but the math looks like $90 million guaranteed the next and malleable at $10 million guaranteed in 2026 and nothing guaranteed in 2027. He’s an upgrade over Desmond Ridder and Marcus Mariota for an offense that’s invested high draft capital in Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson in recent years but hasn’t had solid QB play since the Julio Jones/Mahammad Sanu/Tevin Coleman era.

Kirk will be operating a new offensive system for the Falcons via Zac Robinson coming over from the LA Rams. Robinson will operate the same offense that Sean McVay did with Cousins while both were in Washington. Cousins was on pace to put together his sixth solid season in Minnesota before getting hurt eight games into last season. He’s been one of the best QB’s throwing 10+ yards downfield, recorded a 100+ QBR four of the past five seasons, and is finally winning games in prime time!

The NFC South isn’t a gauntlet, but Atlanta is part of the reason why. The Birds will be co-favorites with the Bucs to make the playoffs but still aren’t a strong candidate to be a real threat in the playoffs or top-10 team overall in the league. Cousins might be the best QB in the divisions by default and the most proven roster, Tampa, had to make haircuts to the roster in the offseason to fit into the cap. Still, the entertainment factor at the very least is looking up for the birds in 2024.