South Atlanta News

Quarterback Kirk Cousins revealed an injury to his right shoulder and elbow during the Atlanta Falcons' Week 10 loss to the New Orleans Saints. This announcement was made on "Good Morning Football" earlier this month, surprising many in the NFL community.

Cousins explained that he struggled with the injury, saying, "From there, (I was) kind of dealing with that. It was something that I was working through and just never really could get it to where I wanted it."

Despite playing every offensive snap in Week 10 and appearing on an estimated injury report as limited due to his right shoulder and elbow, Cousins participated fully in practice for the rest of the week. He did not appear on any subsequent injury reports for the remainder of the season.

Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot confirmed at the 2025 NFL Combine that Cousins was only listed on one injury report. "He was on the injury report that one week," Fontenot stated. "When a player's injured, we put him on the injury report. That's the only time he was on the injury report. So, as far as we're concerned, that's the only injury we were aware of."

The Falcons suffered four consecutive losses starting from Week 10, marking a difficult period for Cousins who threw eight interceptions without any touchdowns during these games. He ended this streak with a touchdown pass to Drake London in Week 15 against the Las Vegas Raiders but lost his starting position to rookie Michael Penix Jr. before Week 16 against the New York Giants.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris addressed this change by saying, "The reason we made the change when we made it was because we had some bad decisions go along that way." He further emphasized trust issues resulting from poor performance: "It was well-documented...the amount of touchdowns we had at that point...when we didn't do those things, you have to make those changes."

Fontenot clarified that switching quarterbacks was purely based on football considerations rather than injuries.

Conversations between Cousins and Falcons post-revelation remain private while Atlanta asserts its compliance with league regulations regarding player injuries throughout last season. Coach Morris affirmed confidence in their decision-making process stating: "We put best person out there...that was decision made."