The Atlanta Falcons need a quarterback, and not just any quarterback. They need a capable, preferably really good starting quarterback after muddling through the past couple of years without one. The route they take to get that quarterback matters less than ensuring they land one.
If the Falcons want to explore free agency rather than the draft or the trade market—or in addition to those avenues—the options are fairly slim. There’s one high end (if older) starter, one capable one coming off a fine season, and three or so players who have a track record of good-to-great starting quarterback play who either haven’t been a full-time starter in a while, delivered mixed results in 2023, or both.
Still, we have to take the team seriously when they say every avenue is open, especially with the ability and willingness to trade up in the draft an open question as of today. We owe it to ourselves, then, to take a quick look at the market, especially with one name in particular attracting a lot of Atlanta-based attention.
In other years, I’d consider rolling out a list of free agent backups, but I fully expect the team to either A) draft a long-term possible starter to sit behind a veteran or B) go with Desmond Ridder as their backup, so it doesn’t feel necessary this year.
Let’s get to the list.
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins
The name to know at the moment. Cousins is the most established and successful passer set to hit the open market, if indeed he gets there, and a player the Falcons have been linked to more or less since the calendar year began.
The reasons why should be fairly obvious. Cousins is an accurate, prolific passer who is regularly among the league leaders in on-target pass percentage, which I use because it’s in stark contrast to what the Falcons have gotten the past couple of years. He has a quality arm, sees the field and his options well and can get the ball out quickly to his receivers, and is a tough, durable player whose lone blemish in the past several years on that front is last year’s unfortunate Achilles injury. The Falcons and new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson have spent a lot of time talking about the importance of accuracy and being able to make all the required throws, and Cousins has a history of doing just that.
In Cousins, the Falcons could see a player who offers you something in the ballpark of what Matthew Stafford gave the Rams, which is high-caliber quarterbacking despite advancing age. He’s the best option available in free agency by a decent margin, and if you want to win right now, probably the best fit out of anyone you can reasonably get outside of the top couple of options in the draft. The Falcons have both the offensive line and the skill position players—minus a couple of wide receivers, which they badly need to add—in order to allow Cousins to thrive.
Those are the pluses. The drawbacks are obvious, too. Cousins will command a huge salary, forcing the Falcons to cut corners elsewhere beyond 2024 if they commit to a multi-year deal, and he’s set to be 36 years old. The Falcons landing on a 36-year-old solution two seasons after dumping their 36-year-old franchise legend would be kind of rich, but Cousins probably has 2-3 more quality years left in him. The biggest concern is that he’s coming off that major injury and approaching the age where performance can start to slide, and the Falcons will have to pay him like he’s still prime Kirk Cousins whether he actually proves to be or not. You’ll be able to structure his deal in a way that allows you to spend big and be competitive this season, but the open question will be how they handle the big cap hits down the line, and whether Cousins is capable of being great both now and in the future.
If the Falcons think they can be a Super Bowl-contending team in 2024 and 2025, Cousins makes a ton of sense, especially if you like one of the second-tier passers like Bo Nix or Michael Penix in this draft class to develop behind him. If there’s any doubt that the window I just described exists, Cousins probably isn’t the right fit.
Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield
Mayfield has been a journeyman since leaving the Cleveland Browns, with solid-to-encouraging stops in Los Angeles, Carolina, and Tampa Bay. That first team is where he overlapped with Zac Robinson and Raheem Morris, giving them familiarity that might intrigue them. The last team is where he turned in a full, quality season as a starter, raising the floor of his market.
Mayfield is a streaky passer without many standout traits, but he’s also a solid all-around player who can get into a groove and dice up defenses. The Falcons saw that firsthand last year, where Mayfield had some annoying drives where he caught fire along with some notable misses and lackluster play. He was best at the beginning and end of the year for the Buccaneers, but a glance at his numbers would tell you he was pretty good, and that’s pretty accurate.
He’s most valuable in Tampa Bay, where he just succeeded and is good enough and young enough to help keep a quality roster competitive in the years to come. He doesn’t raise the floor enough for me to love that signing in Atlanta, but there’s little point in denying he’d be an upgrade over what the Falcons trotted out the past two seasons. If the Falcons are committed to getting a veteran and strike out on Cousins (and maybe a trade for Justin Fields), Mayfield would be an option if Tampa Bay doesn’t get a deal done before next week.
Commanders QB Jacoby Brissett
I remain intrigued by Brissett as a short-term starter, but it has to happen in a very specific situation this year. Brissett would be ideal if the Falcons drafted a starter but were not willing to get him on the field in Week 1, with Ridder shoved down to third quarterback duties or off the roster entirely. In any other scenario, as much as I like Brissett, I can’t imagine him signing with this team.
Brissett moves pretty well in the pocket and delivers a sharp ball, and he displayed how good he’s gotten at reading and carving up defenses in very stints as the starter in 2023 with Washington. He’s also an underrated short yardage and red zone bulldozer of a runner, and that combination makes Brissett an underrated quarterback, period. With a capable supporting cast in Atlanta and an opportunity to start, Brissett can keep the seat warm for a rookie for up to a full season and quarterback a winning Falcons team at an affordable price point. I firmly believe if the team had signed him instead of Taylor Heinicke a year ago, they would have won more games, but it’s hard to imagine the Falcons making him the centerpiece signing of their offseason without a young starter to hand things over to at some point in 2024.
Ex-Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson
In the right scenario, Wilson can offer a team affordable, capable quarterbacking. I cautioned that we shouldn’t rule him out for the Falcons, and I still believe that. But there are real reasons to be wary about Wilson, as well, especially now that Cousins and Mayfield may be available when it seemed unlikely earlier in the offseason that either would be.
Wilson’s crisp passing in the red zone, ability to escape pressure, and the fact that he can be signed to a small deal because the Broncos are on the hook for a lot of money after cutting him all work in his favor. His tendency to wander into sacks he doesn’t have to take, the lack of ability to work effectively over the middle of the field, and his declining ability to extend plays without getting himself into trouble all work against him. The Falcons badly want someone who can work within the structure of Zac Robinson’s offense and deliver on-target throws all over the field, and that isn’t necessarily something Wilson is going to do while thriving.
He’s still a possibility—teams may chalk some of his struggles this past year to an uneasy fit with Sean Payton—but he’s likely not at the top of Atlanta’s list.
Indianapolis Colts QB Gardner Minshew
The lowest upside option on this list, Minshew was a full-time starter for the Colts last year after Anthony Richardson was lost to an injury. He can give you stretches of capable quarterbacking and is, at his best, somewhat of a higher-floor Taylor Heinicke. But some of the same limitations Heinicke brought to the table in his starts for Atlanta in 2023 are evident in Minshew’s game, from hit-or-miss downfield accuracy and velocity to a tendency to make ugly plays because he gets flustered.
Minshew would be the final fallback if the Falcons whiff on other veteran quarterbacks, still want one, and are very confident they’ll also land a young quarterback they want to roll with down the line.
If you’d like, you can talk yourself into a shot at Sam Darnold or Jameis Winston or Ryan Tannehill, though that last option probably evaporated as soon as Arthur Smith was fired. If we’re talking somewhat proven veteran starters with recent starting experience who could be expected to hold that job down immediately and for the next season or two, though, I think what I have above is the full list.
Give me your thoughts on who the Falcons should sign and whether they’ll land any of these options in the comments.
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