The 2024 season didn’t play out the way Kirk Cousins hoped. After tearing his Achilles in his final season with the Minnesota Vikings, he signed on with the Atlanta Falcons but never seemed to recapture his old form, eventually giving way to rookie Michael Penix Jr.
It turns out Cousins was a little more banged up than any of us knew. Now, the 36-year-old veteran is at another crossroads in his career, and he’s looking back a decade for his plan to bounce back.
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Dianna: First, just, how are you doing? It’s such a weird time of year for players that are in such a grind during the season and then all sudden it just stops for you.
Kirk: We’re doing well. You know, the chance to catch our breath is certainly welcome. It’s just hard to do it when it’s January and you wish you were in the playoffs. You wish you were at the Pro Bowl, You wish you were at the Super Bowl. So I was watching the NFC championship game a couple of weeks ago and I told my wife, I just have a lot of FOMO right now watching this. It’s hard for me to sit here and just watch someone else do it. So that’s always hard. But in a week when the Super Bowl wraps up, no matter what, we’re all done. And and, you know, we kind of enjoy that time with family to just kind of catch our breath before hopefully another great go around another season.
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Dianna: So how are you feeling — like, where are you at physically right now? I think a lot of people had questions about it this past season. So just officially, right now, here in February, how does Kirk Cousins feel?
Kirk: Yeah, I think it certainly was a challenge coming back from the Achilles. I did feel like the Achilles healed well and was really strong during the season. The challenge I had was — and it sounds strange to say — but the rest of my ankle, it was like the rest of my ankle still needed to figure out how to be an ankle again. And that’s what I was working through much, especially in the early part, of the season. But then, you know, dealt with a hit against the Saints in Week 10 that kind of affected my shoulder and elbow. So then you kind of have the right ankle and the shoulder, you have the elbow and there’s a lot of things you’re working through. And that was hard. But now it’s the offseason. You do have a lot of time and energy to devote to getting healthy, rest and recover and building back strength and mobility. And so that’s what my focus has been. And I’m pretty confident that with time, you know, I’ll be feeling really good come next season. But certainly, you know, it’s one of those years this past season where you kind of had to dig deep and push through some things.
Dianna: Yeah, I’m always interested in how you battle, right? Because I think the world has now found out what a lot of us have known about you, just how disciplined you are and how hard you work every single day and how structured you live your life to make sure that you’re trying to get the best out of yourself. But after you have a year like you did in just the way you described it, which wasn’t at all how you imagined it to go, Where are you at mentally? Like, how do you bounce back from that?
Kirk: You know, it reminds me a little bit of 2014 when I was with Washington, was backing up but got put in and played about five or six weeks, did some really good things, but also made some errors and ended up getting benched and, you know, kind of watched the second half of that season from the bench knowing that if I played well, I could or should be the one out there, but I didn’t play well enough to do that. And now it’s kind of reminded of some of those feelings this past year. So, you know, it kind of took me back to that. And then, back in that 2015 offseason really took a lot of time and energy to respond, come back and had a great year in 2015 and was able to kind of build on that. So I’m taking a similar approach now just saying, Hey, you know, it’s got to be 2015 all over again. You got to get back on the horse now and, in 2025, try to put together your best year up ahead and see where it can lead. But, you know, there’s no guarantee, you’ve got to go earn it and do it. And that’s really where my focus is.
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Dianna: Can you tell us what’s next for you? Where is Kirk Cousins playing next season?
Kirk: I wish I could, you know. I know I’m under contract with the Falcons and so that’s what I know. And we haven’t had conversations. I’m sure we will come March, but still early, we just gotta wait and see what the Falcons’ vision is and go from there and just know that I would love to keep playing and we’ll see what happens.
Dianna: I know you don’t want to get into the Super Bowl too much because, as you said, it’s just kind of hard to sort of watch and take it all in if you’re not here. But you know what these quarterbacks are up against because you play both these teams — you played the Eagles, you played the Chiefs. So who do you think’s got the tougher job figuring out the defense on Sunday? Is this going to be Jalen or Patrick, based on what you recall that you saw earlier in the season?
Kirk: We played the Eagles Week 2 and at that time you don’t really have a sample size to go off of to know quite what you’re going against. And it was later in the year when I looked back to see where defenses ranked, and the Eagles ranked, I think, second in total defense. So really, really good defense. I think that goes back to Vic Fangio, it goes back to Jalen Carter, the great pass rush they have, Darius Slay has always been an elite corner. So, you know, we had a hard time moving the ball against them in our game, but I didn’t leave the field saying, you know, that’s the best defense we’ll play all year. And yet, looking back, it very well may have been. Just a really good unit, and I think it’s a big reason why they’re in the Super Bowl. You know, Spags and the Chiefs defense, they do such a good job. And I think what they do, and what the team does so well, is just find the inches, find a way to win. They’ve done it now all season. And it’s hard to bet against a team that does that, and as good as the Eagles are, as much as they control the line of scrimmage, when you’re a team that, just no matter what finds a way to win, that’s what this league’s all about.
Dianna: So with those defensive players that you played against earlier in the season, is there one defensive player that’s going to be out on the field, in the Superdome, that’s one of those guys that is just a nightmare for quarterbacks?
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Kirk: Yeah, they both have one at the same position. That 3-technique, interior defensive line position, they can move those guys around, but it’s Jalen Carter and Chris Jones. They’re different body types, but really the same level of dominance where you need to have a plan for them. And if you one-on-one pass protect them much of the game, eventually they will ruin your day. So those two guys are a problem. And it’s probably no coincidence that you have a dominant interior defensive lineman like that and you’re in the Super Bowl. I think whether you look at Aaron Donald with the Rams a few years back, you know, having a guy like that makes a meaningful difference and both teams do.
Dianna: My last question, just because I know you love just all sports in general, but as much as we’re talking about the NFL, we’re talking about the NBA because you can’t resist it. Obviously, the big trade between the Mavs and the Lakers, Anthony Davis and Luka. So when you saw the news, what were you like? Did you believe it?
Kirk: It was surprising. I thought sometimes you see, you know, headlines that aren’t true. And so the first thought was, is this even true? And when I found out it was, the second question was: Why? You know, and you kind of hear reasons as to why. And, ultimately in sports, as in any business, you have to forecast things. You have to make educated guesses, you have to take risk. You have to invest in something. And you may be right, you may be wrong, but you got to do it. Go with your gut. And you know, nobody knows the future. And so time will tell as to how that trade works out and who wins in the long run. We just don’t have all the information yet. But it was the kind of sports news that kind of makes following sports fun when you think, Wow, that’s that’s eyebrow raising. And I think we were all reminded as athletes the transient nature of our careers that, you know, when you own a home and you have a contract, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be there. We’re all kind of year to year, game to game, and I’ve been living that now for 13 years. And I think that’s hard. It’s an unseen part of pro football, of pro sports, is just that we don’t really live a life that’s very settled, and I think we all kind of look forward to when we retire having a little bit more of a settled feeling to our lives. But as a pro athlete, it’s just not a luxury that we have.
Dianna: Well, nobody likes to move and nobody likes to move when they’ve got little kids. And so really, my thoughts are with your wife, Julie. Look, who knows if you’re going to have to pack up for her sake. I hope you don’t. But for yours too, perhaps maybe go somewhere where you can get an opportunity to be great, which I think a lot of people have confidence that you still have a lot in you.
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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