The Atlanta Falcons made the decision to trade Kirk Cousins ​​in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr. last week. According to NFL insider James Palmer of Bleacher Report (B/R), the Falcons believe the problems run much deeper than a Cousins ​​slump and that he could be on his last legs as an NFL quarterback.

“If you talk to anyone in Atlanta, they’ll tell you they just fell off a cliff, which is what happens to some older quarterbacks.” Palmer said on his podcast with B/R. “They believe he can no longer physically play the position. In the eyes of the Falcons, he simply couldn’t play it physically anymore. That also led to some mental issues in the way he played the position.

“It led to a position where they believed he was unplayable.”

The Denver Broncos created a template for this scenario earlier this year. Head coach Sean Payton believed the team would not be able to move forward with Russell Wilson and decided to get out of his contract as quickly as possible.

The Broncos took an $85 million dead cap hit to waive Wilson, whose contract extension had not yet begun. They took in $53 million in dead money this year, with the remaining $32 million counting through 2025. However, Wilson was set to take a $57 million cap hit in 2025, saving the Broncos $25 million in cap space next year by cutting Wilson from the roster.

Cousins, like Wilson, has compensated for language in his contract. Any money he makes with another team in 2025, even if he is cut, would count toward Atlanta’s dead money. Of course, Wilson had no incentive to get the Pittsburgh Steelers to pay any money to the Broncos, so he signed for the league minimum of $1.2 million.

The Falcons’ situation isn’t quite as bad. If they leave Cousins, they are expected to take a $65 million hit. That’s still the second-most dead money in history behind Wilson. Paying a player $90 million for eight months of work has serious consequences.

Number 3, of course, was Matt Ryan’s contract with the Falcons, worth a then-record $40 million in dead money in 2022.

Within three years, the Falcons will take over $100 million in dead money hits on two different quarterbacks.

Will Cousins ​​have a market in 2025? Teams will need to carefully assess Cousins’ health, something the Falcons apparently didn’t do properly before signing his contract. ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler believes Cousins ​​and Kevin Stefanski could be a bargain match in Cleveland.

“The Kirk Cousins ​​situation in Atlanta could be heaven for Cleveland” Fowler said on the This is Football podcast. “It’s Russell Wilson again. Kirk Cousins ​​​​can operate Kevin Stefanski’s offense. We saw it in Minnesota; he was successful. It just makes a lot of sense.”

After passing on Wilson, the Broncos selected Bo Nix in the first round. They’re 9-6 and can clinch a playoff spot on Saturday afternoon while also dealing with a record-breaking dead cap hit. A big reason for this is the play of Nix, whose rookie deal offset most of the cost of voiding Wilson’s contract.

The Falcons hope to follow that pattern next season when they face another big dead cap number. The Michael Penix Jr. era has begun and he will have his first big test against the Washington Commanders on Sunday night against former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn.

Penix’s $5.2 million cap hit in 2025 will help ease the pain of Cousins’ contract, but that’s $65 million going to Cousins ​​and not in the next two seasons the team is invested.

If Penix plays well, like Nix has this season, money won’t matter as much. He can take a leap into 2025 by securing the NFC South with two more wins, and that starts Sunday night in Washington.