Who Should I Start? Matthew Stafford or Kirk Cousins

Thursday, January 23, 12:02 PM

According to his wife, Kelly, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (ribs) played through a rib injury late in the season after cracking four of his ribs in Week 15 against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. Stafford aggravated his ribs in the first half of the Divisional Round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday and admitted after the game that he had been dealing with it "to a varying degree for some time." He said he "was able to kind of calm it down" and "didn't feel like it was much of a factor" against Philly. Despite being less than 100%, Stafford threw for a season-high 324 yards and two touchdowns and almost led the Rams to an improbable coming back win. The 36-year-old acknowledged that he will contemplate his future this offseason. If Stafford comes back for a 17th season in 2025, he'll be a midrange QB2 target in fantasy drafts.

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.