Kirk Cousins Scores Another Big Payday, Which He's Awesome At Doing

Kirk Cousins knows how to play the game. No, not football necessarily, although he's pretty productive at that. But the free agency game.

The quarterback, who just agreed to join the Atlanta Falcons on a four-year free agent contract worth $180 million, is a maestro of the money game. Of the get-the-bag-in free agency game.

The guy really knows how to work it to his benefit to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

All you have to know to understand this is that Cousins on Monday agreed to his fourth major contract since his 30th birthday. And, according to sources, the Falcons had to outbid the Minnesota Vikings to get the deal done because that team worked feverishly the last three days to actually keep Cousins.

But, ultimately, Cousins is going to the high bidder and got $100 million in guaranteed money for his trouble.

 Kirk Cousins Been Getting Paid For A Long Time

The Falcons are paying what some believe should be a bridge quarterback to put them in the playoffs. To make them championship relevant. And they're paying for the privilege.

This isn't new for Cousins. The idea of him lifting a team started when the Vikings signed him away from the Redskins.

But the idea of him getting paid is much older than that.

Remember that Cousins once upon a time was the starting quarterback for the then-Washington Redskins. And they liked him a lot, but not enough to sign him to a long-term contract.

So they used the franchise tag worth $19.9 million in 2016. And Cousins rewarded Washington by throwing for nearly 5,000 yards with 25 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions.

Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins passes vs. the Kansas City Chiefs at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. (Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports)

(Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports)

Vikings Once Paid Cousins A Lot

Good but not awesome.

So the Redskins, still not wanting to meet the price tag Cousins set for a long-term contract, settled for another franchise tag for their quarterback. That franchise tag got Cousins $23.9 million for 2017 during which Cousins delivered 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

So Cousins somehow worked careful and, at times, lukewarm feelings from his team into nearly $44 million over two seasons. And because he got that money via a franchise tag, it effectively precluded the Redskins from using the tag again in 2018.

That put Cousins into free agency in 2018 and that's when the quarterback's bank account grew exponentially.

Ironically, Falcons coach Raheem Morris was on that Redskins coaching staff when Cousins was there.

Cousins signed a three-year contract with the Vikings worth a whopping (at that time) $84 million. Every penny of that deal was guaranteed. And Cousins didn't just collect that cash, he eventually got $185 million from the Vikings over the next six seasons.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 09: Arthur Blank speaks on SiriusXM at Super Bowl LVIII on February 09, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

And Cousins was good in that time. He threw 177 touchdown passes and made the Pro Bowl three times during that time.

But the Vikings won one playoff game in that time. They were 1-2 and actually missed the playoffs altogether four times.

So is he a championship quarterback? Well, no. He's not won a championship.

Is he a player who has put the team on his shoulders and carried the burden? Well, no. He's really never been that in 12 NFL seasons.

But the dude has collected $231,469,288 over his career, per Overthecap.com, which tracks such things. Worst case scenario, Cousins doesn't play all four years with the Falcons. That stuff happens.

And he'll still run his career earnings to more than $331 million.

The quarterback will blow past the quarter of a billion dollar career earnings mark before he's done.

Tom Brady, by comparison, made $130,795,588 over the same period of time. And his teams were 9-5 in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl twice.

Kirk Cousins is better than Tom Brady – at bank deposits.