Atlanta Falcons Restructure Kirk Cousins For a Post-June 1 Release

The Falcons faced a familiar offseason dilemma: move on from Kirk Cousins or carry an unworkable cap number into 2026. Instead of waiting, both sides acted early — restructuring the contract to enable a Post-June 1 release while preserving Cousins’ guaranteed cash.

One of the biggest questions heading into the offseason for the Atlanta Falcons was how to manage the roster situation with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. Should the team pursue a path to move on from Cousins, or keep Cousins on the roster for the 2026 season? The two sides had to work quickly to facilitate the outcome that was ultimately achieved.

Today, I will explain how the two sides negotiated an outcome to facilitate Kirk Cousins’ release on March 11, 2026. I will also include how the contract was modified and what the salary cap consequences are for the Atlanta Falcons.

Previous Contract

On March 14, 2024, the Atlanta Falcons and unrestricted free-agent veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins completed a 4-year contract worth $180.0 million covering the 2024 through 2027 NFL seasons. The contract included $90 million fully guaranteed with an additional $10 million in injury protection. Cousins also received a no-trade clause.

Despite drafting Michael Penix in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, Cousins was the starting quarterback for the team. The roles would eventually exchange places for the 2025 NFL season.

The contract did include an early vesting trigger for full guarantee protection on Cousins’s 2026 roster bonus, worth $10 million. This bonus had injury protection only at signing, and vested to a full guarantee protection on March 16, 2025.

Below is the salary cap table breakdown for the Kirk Cousins contract with the Atlanta Falcons (guaranteed salaries highlighted):

Kirk Cousins Contract - Salary Cap Breakdown

Absent any contract modification, the team would have to take on $35 million in dead money charges for the 2026 league year if the team were to release Cousins during the 2026 NFL offseason. A Post-June 1 designation would create $22.5 million in salary cap savings; however, the team would have to carry Cousins’s $57.5 million player cap charge until June 1st.

This would be very prohibitive for the team, limiting their roster-building resources given the large player cap on their salary cap.

Contract Solution

Prior to the end of the 2025 regular season, the two sides negotiated a revised 3-year contract that would set up both sides for a player release in March 2026. This renegotiated contract would create immediate cap savings for the team and preserve all scheduled guaranteed cash for Cousins.

The new contract lowered Cousins’s base salary (P5) from $35.0 million down to $2.1 million. Cousins’s $10.0 million roster bonus for 2026 remained in place as the bonus has full protection from release.

The vesting schedule was rewritten upon implementation of the new contract, providing full guarantee protection for the $10.0 million bonus with a vesting date of January 6, 2026. This date is three days after the contract execution. This date was used to prevent the roster bonus from being treated as “other amounts treated as a signing bonus,” or also known as “OATSB”. This essentially prevents the roster bonus amount from being prorated like a signing bonus.

Cousins’s base salary in 2027 was increased from $35.0 million to $67.9 million. This was done to keep the total contract value the same as in the previous contract, in accordance with the contract renegotiation rules in the NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Reference: Article 13 - Section 8 - Renegotiations and Extensions

This contract structure now sets up the team to use a Post-June-1 designation when the Kirk Cousins release is processed. The release must be completed between March 11th and March 13th. The contract includes a vesting date of March 13th, which would make the $67.9 million salary in 2027 fully guaranteed.

Post-June 1 Designation

Post-June 1 Designation releases cannot be used until the start of the new league year, March 11th, for the 2026 league year. Teams are limited to the use of this designation twice in one year.

One critical piece of this renegotiation is that a team cannot use the Post-June 1 designation for a player whose contract was renegotiated after the end of the regular season of the prior league year. In short, the Post-June 1 designation would not have been available to the team had this contract been renegotiated in the offseason. This is why the renegotiation was completed on January 3rd, 2026, prior to the end of the regular season.

Reference: Article 13 - Section 6 (b)(ii)(1) - Valuation of Player Contracts

The amounts highlighted in green are the dead money amounts for the Atlanta Falcons. The team will carry Cousins’s salary cap number, $24.6 million, until June 2nd. On June 2nd, the team will incur a dead-money charge of $22.5 million for the 2026 league year. The remaining $12.5 million (from the signing bonus pro-ratio) will be dead money on the Falcons’ salary cap for the 2027 league year.

Kirk Cousins will still earn his guaranteed $10 million roster bonus. The roster bonus is subject to offsets under the contract language, meaning the amount owed by the Falcons will be reduced by any money Cousins earned by playing with another team in 2026.

If you want to learn more about Post-June 1 salary cap treatment, please consider watching Episode 9 of my NFL Salary Cap Explained series:

Closing Remarks

This is a textbook example of proactive cap management under the CBA, exactly the type of mechanism teams must master in today’s NFL.

This is a clean, simple method to achieve maximum savings for the team while facilitating a Post-June 1 Designation release. The team’s intentions were made clear to the player and agent, which also helped co-op this contract adjustment. Attention to the CBA rules, pro-active action, and clear communications were all on display in this renegotiation.

The NFL offseason is almost upon us. What parts are you most excited about relating to your favorite team? Let me know in the comment section below.