Falcons predicted to trade Kirk Cousins to division rival

Kirk Cousins remains a candidate to fill a starting QB opening somewhere in the NFL.

There just aren't many places for the Atlanta Falcons under-contract backup quarterback to go.

Cousins lost his starting job late last season to Michael Penix Jr. He won't be getting the gig back.

Last year, Cousins led the NFL with 16 interceptions, the worst season of his career.

The Falcons have been rumored all offseason to be considering trading away Cousins.

The latest speculation comes from Pro Football Network's Sterling Xie.

"Kirk Cousins was never going to move before the draft," Xie writes. "The Atlanta Falcons have no financial urgency to move on from Cousins, since the most financially beneficial move is to trade him after June 1. At that point, the Falcons would eat a $12.5 million dead cap hit each of the next three years, while saving $27.5 million in cap room this year."

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There's more on the reasoning.

"The Falcons’ draft picks didn’t squeeze out Cousins, but the draft as a whole solidified the narrow universe of possible trade partners," Xie writes. "The Pittsburgh Steelers remain the team most desperately in need of a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers still looks like the solution for Pittsburgh, but the mercurial 41-year-old always feels like a threat to change his mind. Cousins would serve as a logical Plan B for Pittsburgh given that the rest of the roster is built to contend for a playoff spot."

So where can Cousins go?

There's one suggestion from PFN: New Orleans.

The Saints drafted Tyler Shough 40th overall and have a mish-mosh of other QBs.

"Trading with the archrival New Orleans Saints is probably anathema to the Falcons, but even after drafting Tyler Shough in the second round, they would probably be the most logical trade partners if Derek Carr is out for the season," Xie writes. "If Atlanta truly doesn’t see Cousins as a starting-level QB anymore, sending him to their biggest rivals for draft capital might be a way to knock out two birds with one stone."

So there you have it. Cousins to the Saints, maybe. He'd get a chance at revenge against the Falcons and Penix, that's for sure.

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