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With the Falcons picking up his option and now with both free agency and the NFL Draft essentially complete, the obvious window of time to move on from Cousins has come and gone. At this point, it looks like he's going to be a very high-priced backup quarterback for Atlanta. Still, the phone could certainly ring at some point here should Aaron Rodgers choose to retire and not go to the Steelers or if another team loses their starters in camp. At this point, Cousins is a weak hold in dynasty leagues.

As expected, Cousins didn't waive his no-trade clause in order to be dealt on the draft's opening night. However, it now gets a little more interesting as teams that missed out on a quarterback (Cleveland, Pittsburgh) could be more aggressive in their pursuit of him and Cousins may now be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to a team that doesn't have a young quarterback to replace him on the roster and little to no chance to really draft his future replacement.

The Athletic's NFL insider Dianna Russini wrote that a weekend deal for Cousins would possibly happen Saturday, with Minnesota being the least likely of the three landing spots. Cousins' Dynasty value is almost entirely contingent on how many games he's able to start in 2025, so there's nowhere to go but up since the Falcons have made it clear they're intent on moving forward with Michael Penix Jr. from here on out. Cousins could give his potential new team a backstop for early-season starts if a prospective rookie is slow out of the gate (or J.J. McCarthy isn't ready by Week 1).

In other words, Atlanta is eating some money in an attempt to create a trade market for Cousins. It's hard to believe they'd really keep him as the backup to Michael Penix next season. Stranger things have happened, but expect Atlanta to release Cousins at some point if no trade actually materializes in the coming weeks. If anything, they're being patient. Cousins' dynasty value is clearly in major flux at the moment, so stay tuned.

Cousins is now saying a shoulder injury affected his play in Atlanta before he was replaced by Michael Penix Jr last season. Regardless, that move has been made permanent and his future is now cloudy. It seems very likely he's moved in the off-season to a team not in position to get one of the NFL Draft's top-tier signal callers. Cousins still has some upside, but he also seems like a player who needs a pretty strong supporting cast to be successful at this point in his career. Regardless, he looks like a QB2 moving forward in dynasty leagues and no longer a weekly starter.

His roster bonus of $10 million isn't due until March 17, but it seems clear the Falcons are simply going to swallow any money they owe him. While Atlanta is saying they could keep him, they're likely bluffing as Cousins has a no-trade clause and will surely want to just get released and find his next home. The market for Cousins may be colder than he anticipates as he's been less than stellar this year with 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

The Chargers have a solid defense, but this was a mess from the beginning for Cousins, who has been really up and down all year. With Atlanta now having lost three in a row, the calls for Michael Penix Jr may start to get louder if the Falcons don't turn this around. Still, Cousins has shown a knack for bouncing back from bad games. His dynasty value is stable as an aging low-end QB1 or solid QB2.