After finishing 8-9, the Atlanta Falcons hit the reset button. They fired head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot. But there remains one puzzle for a franchise needing salary cap flexibility: Kirk Cousins. While he has a no-trade clause, Spotrac broke down the loopholes and what implications his trade could carry for the Falcons.

Cousins signed a $180 million/ 4-year contract with Atlanta in March 2024 with $100 million fully guaranteed and a $50 million signing bonus. According to Spotrac, he still carries a $45 million line with a $57.5 million cap hit in 2026, making him the league’s most expensive quarterback obligations for the single season. While such a financial commitment scares off potential franchises, there may be some ways to make it possible.

If Atlanta trades Cousins before the $10 million roster bonus hits on March 15, the Falcons take on $25 million in dead cap for 2026 while freeing $32.5 million in cap space. Structurally, that is manageable for Atlanta, but only if the acquiring team agrees to restructure.

A post-June 1 release would cost Atlanta $50 million in dead cap, but it would free Cousins to negotiate directly with whichever team he chooses at a fraction of his current $45 million figure.

Update: The Falcons restructured Cousins’ contract with two years remaining. According to the deal, his salary for 2026 has been reduced from the non-guaranteed $35 million to a mere $2.1 million.

The restructuring move hints that Atlanta plans to designate Cousins a Post 6/1 release this March. With this, they will carry his new $24.6M cap hit into June, then take on dead cap hits of $22.5M in 2026, and $12.5M in 2027. Atlanta will process the Post 6/1 Designation prior to the March 13th guarantee, allowing Cousins to hit the open market immediately. If he does stay with the team, he is fully guaranteed a salary of $67.9 million till 2027 when his contract expires.

In case the restructuring hadn’t happened, the Falcons could’ve still pursued the less-likely Post 6/1 Designation on Cousins.

If they had used the Post 6/1 Designation, then Atlanta would’ve kept Cousins’ $57.5 million contract on the books into June. They would have then taken dead cap hits of $22.5 million in 2026 and $12.5 million in 2027. With that, they would have saved $35 million of cap space in June.

The fuel in this fire, though, is Cousins’ veto power in the no-trade clause. And he already has some paths finalized if he does leave Atlanta.

Cousins gives his thoughts on his Atlanta future as reunion with old team opens up

“I would like to keep playing, but we’ll see how things play out in March or even after that… I would love to be back here. We’ll see how things play out,” the 37-year-old QB recently commented on his Falcons future.

From the QB’s perspective, that path offers control and opportunity. From the Falcons’ point of view, it represents financial devastation without compensation, as they certainly did not get the output worth the contract they extended to Cousins.

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After returning as the team’s starter in Week 11, after an injury to Michael Penix Jr., the veteran has helped the team with four consecutive wins to wrap up a rather disappointing season. However, in two years with them, he has achieved subpar numbers, including 5229 yards and 28 touchdowns on 65 percent completions.

In ten games he played this season, he was 5-5. But that final four-win stretch may have turned heads for some teams, given that he wasn’t surrounded by good enough tools either.

One of those QB-needy teams could be Cousins’ old home: the Minnesota Vikings.

If Atlanta had not approached Cousins with the huge contract, it was likely that he would’ve stayed in Minnesota to become a veteran backup to JJ McCarthy. However, now that the Falcons are trying to undo their mistake, the Vikings might do it too.

This situation is definitely the result of poor management and decision-making, which has led the Falcons to undergo major terminations.

The Quarterback problem that doomed Morris and Fontenot

After consecutive disappointing seasons, the Falcons showed that their biggest failure came in the most important position in football. However, the top brass did not take much time to make the required changes: firing head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler’s reporting makes clear why the two had to go. The franchise invested enormous capital in two quarterback solutions, Penix through the draft, and Cousins through free agency. However, neither strategy produced playoff-caliber results. This mistake was fairly big in creating this situation, sealing their fate.

New ownership and a new coaching staff want to reset that entire approach without the baggage of previous quarterback decisions hanging over their heads. Still, the new Falcons regime will inherit a quarterback mess that demands immediate attention. Whether Cousins stays, goes, or gets restructured will define the franchise’s salary cap flexibility for years to come.