Kirk Cousins lands TV gig with disastrous $180 million Falcons run fading

Perhaps Kirk Cousins sees the writing on the wall.

The Falcons quarterback may be positioning himself for a post-playing career in media as he’s joining the CBS pregame show, “The NFL Today,” for the divisional round and AFC Championship game, the network announced.

The move comes after Falcons great Matt Ryan left the CBS pregame show to become Atlanta’s president of football.

Cousins’ four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed has been a disaster for the Falcons, who confused everyone — including Cousins, initially — by signing him to that deal in 2024, only to then draft Michael Penix at No. 8 overall that year.

In Cousins’ first year with Atlanta, he was benched for Penix after 14 games while the team was still in the playoff race.

Cousins, 37, remained with the franchise as Penix’s backup, but Penix played nine games before suffering a season-ending ACL injury, thrusting Cousins back into the lineup.

While the Falcons went 5-3 in Cousins’ eight starts this season, he was uninspiring with 1,721 yards, 10 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 61.7 completion percentage.

In 2024, Cousins was tied for the most interceptions in the NFL with 16, while throwing for 3,508 yards and 18 touchdowns.

He was a fourth-round pick by Washington in 2012 and became their full-time starter in 2015. In 2018, he signed with the Vikings and spent six seasons as their starter.

Cousins has made $321.7 million during his career, according to Spotrac.

The Falcons went from thinking they had two viable quarterbacks to potentially none, as Penix has underwhelmed in 12 career starts and is recovering from ACL surgery.

The team recently fired head coach Raheem Morris after two seasons despite winning its final four games to finish 8-9.