Kirk Cousins ​​​​firmly in the “melting pot of starters”. What does this mean for the Atlanta Falcons in 2024?

PFF NFL Draft analyst Trevor Sikkema has ranked all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks/quarterbacks and placed them into seven categories heading into the offseason dead period. Kirk Cousins, starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was ranked 15th in the NFL amid Sikkema’s large nine-player fourth-string, nicknamed “The Melting Pot of Starters.” Cousins ​​​​was fifth in this tier behind Jordan Love of Green Bay, Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers and Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins.

Honestly, that seems too low for Cousins. He has been one of the most successful NFL quarterbacks over the past few years. Over his last six seasons, he has not posted an overall grade below 80.0 and has only one passing grade below 80.0. But 2023 showed signs of slowing down.

Cousins ​​played in just eight games in 2023 and was on pace to hit his lowest throwing rate before going down with a torn Achilles. However, he was also on track to hit his lowest game rate in terms of turnovers. His adjusted completion percentage was at a career high, but his average depth of target was at a career low. He’s now 36 and coming off a torn Achilles with a new team in Atlanta. He’s been incredibly effective thus far in his career, and we’ll see if he can be more aggressive in 2024.

According to Sikkema, there appears to be cause for concern about whether Cousins ​​will be aggressive enough to elevate the Falcons’ offense, especially coming off a serious injury.

Cousins ​​is not known for being a control merchant, but he is known as the ultimate quarterback in the system. As long as things are going well around him, he can make the most of the offensive structure. The criticism of Cousins ​​has always been that he is not able to elevate the offense with much creativity outside of the structure of the offense.

Atlanta’s greatest strength is the offensive infrastructure already in place heading into the 2024 season with versatile weapons Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson. In 2023, Desmond Ridder couldn’t take advantage of the infrastructure, posting a PFF grade of 51.9, the worst of 38 qualified quarterbacks and the 24th worst rate in EPA/adjusted play. Before his injury, Cousins ​​posted a PFF grade of 86.1 and ranked eighth in EPA/adjusted play. The hope is that Cousins ​​elevates the Falcons offense to what it was supposed to be last season: a frisky playoff team that had the potential to win a playoff game.

However, if what Sikkema projects is correct, we could see a regression in Cousins ​​at the worst possible time for the Falcons. The vertical stretch of the field forces defenders to move back to the line of scrimmage and open up the horizontal passing game, a key to a Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan offense projected by new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Without this downfield component, the defense doesn’t have to respect the downfield passing game and can scramble the intermediate and short parts of the field, as it did last year with Ridder at the helm.

If Cousins ​​can play as effectively as he has in recent years, posting the 12th best EPA/play since the start of the 2022 season, the Falcons offense should be much more than a good unit improved in 2024, they should be a threat to the entire NFC.