Who Should I Start? Kirk Cousins or Trevor Lawrence

Thursday, January 9, 12:26 PM

Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said that the team is comfortable moving forward next year with quarterback Kirk Cousins as the backup to Michael Penix Jr. It's very unlikely that Cousins will be in Atlanta next year as a backup with a $40 million salary cap hit. The more likely outcome this offseason is that the Falcons end up trading Cousins to a team looking for a veteran QB while they find their signal-caller of the future in the draft. If Cousins were to be cut before June 1, he'd carry a $65 million cap hit for 2025. The 36-year-old is also due a $10 million roster cut on March 17, so if he's not traded, Atlanta is expected to cut him before then. Cousins was benched for Penix in Week 16 and ended up being a bust after signing a four-year, $180 million deal last offseason. The four-time Pro Bowler threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and a league-high 16 interceptions in his 14 starts.

Wednesday, December 18, 12:10 PM

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (shoulder) underwent surgery on Tuesday to fix his left AC joint sprain and is expected to return for spring workouts, according to head coach Doug Pederson. The Jaguars had to wait for Lawrence to clear the league's concussion protocol before he was cleared to go under the knife for his shoulder injury. The 25-year-old former first overall pick was placed on Injured Reserve on Dec. 4 and will obviously miss the rest of what was an extremely disappointing season in his fourth year in the league. In single-QB leagues next fall, fantasy managers will be avoiding Lawrence everywhere after he completed only 60.6 percent of his 284 pass attempts for a career-low 2,045 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 starts. He finished as the QB7 in 2022 and as the QB12 a year ago before bottoming out in 2024.