Who Should I Start? Kirk Cousins or Cam Ward

Thursday, July 10, 1:51 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said in an episode of the Netflix series "Quarterback" that he felt "a little bit misled" when the Falcons took Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 overall in the 2024 NFL draft. It came just after Atlanta signed Cousins to a contract worth at least $100 million guaranteed to be their starter in 2024 and beyond. "I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there if both teams are going to be drafting a quarterback high," Cousins said. The 36-year-old led the team to a 6-3 start before injuring his right shoulder. After that, the Falcons lost four straight games, with Cousins throwing eight interceptions and no touchdowns in that stretch. He was eventually benched in Week 16 for Penix, who heads into 2025 as the unquestioned starter, with Cousins backing him up. Cousins could get traded during training camp, but for now he's useless in fantasy as a backup.

Wednesday, July 23, 5:31 PM

Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward, who was the first overall pick in this year's NFL draft, made his training camp debut on Wednesday and took all of the first-team reps, per ESPN's Turron Davenport. Now that Will Levis (shoulder) is out for the entire season while needing surgery on his right shoulder, Ward is firmly in line to start in his first year in the NFL. Back in OTAs and minicamp, the Titans used a rotation of Ward, Levis and Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle. The Titans haven't officially announced Ward as its starter, but it's pretty clear that will eventually come to pass. Davenport goes on to write that most of Ward's passes were towards the middle of the field on Wednesday after most of his success in college came there as well. His first season in the NFL will be more about development and will surely come with plenty of ups and downs. Ward is a low-end QB2 heading into his first year.