QB Kirk Cousins reports to Falcons minicamp

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins reported for the first day of Falcons minicamp on Tuesday.

Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed in March 2024, was benched after Week 14 last season and lost his starting job to rookie Michael Penix Jr. Cousins threw for 3,508 yards with 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

There was offseason speculation that Cousins was looking for a starting job with a new team.

“Obviously you’d love to play but I’m not (going to) dwell on things that aren’t reality,” Cousins said. “It’s better (time) spent to focusing on the situation you’re in and control what you can control. I think that’s the right mindset to have. Certainly there were conversations in January, February, March and even April but we’re moving forward timeline-wise.”

While Penix will begin the upcoming season as the starting quarterback, Cousins has maintained a positive attitude.

“I’ve always believed going back to my rookie year what (former coach) Mike Shanahan told me which is ‘Tough times don’t last, tough people do,’” Cousins said. “It’s not just (about being) physically tough. It’s (about being) mentally tough and emotionally tough. You (have to) be resilient. Life is (going to) throw you some curveballs. You just have to keep moving. The key is you don’t pout or stop. You just keep moving and keep working forward.”

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Cousins, who tore his Achilles tendon while with Minnesota in 2023, said he spent time focusing on getting healthy in the offseason after dealing with an ankle injury.

“It’s good to be out here with the guys,” Cousins said. “I wasn’t able to (have) 100% attendance this spring. I just felt like I had to budget the time to really focus on my body and make a lot of progress there. I felt like I did. It was time well spent but that brings a trade-off as well where you (have to) make up ground when you get back. That’s what this week is about and over the summer I’ll continue to take steps on my own and then we’ll use (training camp) to get ready to go for the season.”

After last season, Cousins realized he wasn’t as healthy as he thought he was during the season.

“When the season ended last year I started getting into working on my body and having the time to do that,” Cousins said. “I thought I was much better than I was. On (a scale) of one to 10, I thought I was at an eight but I was really back at a three or four and now I’m getting back to that six, seven (or) eight. You start to realize that you weren’t as far along as you thought. (There was) a lot of learning this offseason to get there.”

Cousins said his Achilles injury healed well, but an ankle issue subsequently arose.

“The Achilles healed great,” Cousins said. “What ended up happening was the ankle was just very tight. Everything was (about building) strength so that’s what I focused on. What I realized this offseason was the strength was there. It was a mobility issue. You have to have both and I really didn’t have the mobility. So now it’s been (about) mobility.”

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