Remember when the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a $180 million contract over the offseason and were instantly picked to run away with the NFC South this year? Or how about when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave Baker Mayfield $100 million, which was deemed the lesser deal?
Oh how the tables have turned.
Less than a full season in to both contracts, Baker is playing like an MVP for a first place team while Cousins has been benched in favor of a rookie while Atlanta's season hangs in the balance. Watching the Falcons' ride this season has been nerve wracking at times but it seems to have ended in a place even Bucs fans didn't fully expect.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Cousins is expected to be released before the start of the new league year so the Falcons can save $10 million on his contract. They won't save the nearly $30 million in dead money, as it seems unlikely the team will be able to trade Cousins and dump his insane contract on another team.
It's the final -- and funniest -- twist in a saga that has been deeply satisfying for Bucs fans to watch unfold.
Falcons' disastrous contract with Kirk Cousins is a reminder of how great the Bucs have it
There are a few different ways to take a little victory lap following the latest update on Cousins. One would be to point and laugh Dumb and Dumber style as the Falcons writhe around in pain on the ground.
Another way is to look inward and remember how much better the Buccaneers are institutionally than everyone else in the NFC South. So much has rightfully been made about the talent on the field being what elevates Tampa Bay over its rivals, but a ton of credit goes to the folks who put it there in the first place.
Watching another big money contract for a quarterback collapse under its own weight is yet another cap in Jason Licht's cap. This isn't the first time a team has taken a big swing and completely whiffed but it serves as another reminder that the Bucs' front office knows what it's doing better than most.
We saw this when the Denver Broncos were dealing with the aftermath of trading for Russell Wilson and then cutting bait, as they were left with heaps of dead money. All credit goes to Licht for essentially normalizing teams eating money to save themselves from being tethered to their mistake for too long.
Tom Brady deciding to retire after the 2022 season wasn't the same thing as a team dealing with a quarterback failing to live up to expectations, but it did saddle the Bucs with a ton of dead cap space. Licht and his crew masterfully navigating what should have been a crippling amount of salary cap debt only to win the division two consecutive years laid out a blueprint that other teams are clearly following.
In years past the Broncos and Falcons might have felt they had to hang onto Wilson and Cousins and simply ride out the bad contract. The way Licht managed to steer the Bucs out of Salary Cap Hell has seemingly emboldened teams to rip the band-aid off, take some bad press in the moment, and be better for it long term.
That's what the Falcons seem to be doing with Cousins, and it might have been their escape hatch all along. Drafting Michael Penix Jr. just a month after handing out a $180 million contract was bizarre but it's actually aged into a nice out from the deal with Cousins.
Rather than have a bad contract and be in a position to find a replacement, the Falcons doubled down and have a clear path forward. It certainly seems that they'll be taking a page out of Tampa Bay's book to help stick the landing, which is a delicious cherry on top of what has been a deeply satisfying experience watching the most popular offseason deal flame out in spectacular fashion.
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