{"id":255143,"date":"2025-11-18T13:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=255143"},"modified":"2025-11-17T23:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:49:03","slug":"former-commanders-veteran-kirk-cousins-may-be-auditioning-for-new-role-3-potential-trade-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/18\/former-commanders-veteran-kirk-cousins-may-be-auditioning-for-new-role-3-potential-trade-destinations\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Commanders Veteran May Be “Auditioning” For New Role – 3 Potential Trade Destinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

With quarterback Michael Penix Jr.<\/a> expected to miss the rest of the 2025 campaign, veteran Kirk Cousins might be auditioning for a new role next season. According to the breaking news<\/a>, the Atlanta Falcons will turn the page to Cousins, who was benched last season in favor of Penix and now gets an opportunity to redeem his NFL career. It’s not the ideal situation for the Falcons, but after losing to the Panthers this past weekend, there isn’t a clear path to make it into the wildcard anymore. However, Cousins gets a chance to not only improve his play from last year, but he may receive interest similar to the 49ers backup Mac Jones this upcoming offseason.<\/p>\n

Former Commanders Veteran Kirk Cousins May Be “Auditioning” For New Role – 3 Potential Next Teams<\/h2>\n

While the veteran was hopeful to get starting duties elsewhere this past offseason, the Falcons couldn’t find a proper trade partner to send him since he’s still locked up on a huge contract. The quarterback will likely take a paycut in 2026 to make a trade happen, so it shouldn’t be surprising if the Falcons find a way to trade him. Originally selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the former Michigan State product is trending down in his career, but he has at least two solid seasons in him. Cousins should be able to find a new home come this offseason, and these three teams may make the call in March.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Miami Dolphins<\/h3>\n

With Tua Tagovailoa still under a long-term contract, the expectation is that the Miami Dolphins will keep him. However, it doesn’t mean his starting job is necessarily safe. The same can be said about head coach Mike McDaniel and wide receiver Tyreek Hill<\/a>. The Dolphins need a complete overhaul to bring themselves to win football games in 2026. Cousins isn’t the permanent answer, but he has the arm, strength and experience to get Jaylen Waddle the deep balls with precision and help whoever becomes the next rookie quarterback for this organization.<\/p>\n

It might be time for the veteran to get his “Sam Darnold” type moment and officially hang up the cleats once he finds some revival.<\/p>\n

\"Dolphins
Nov 9, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) rolls out during the first half against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

2. New York Jets<\/h3>\n

Similar to the situation in Miami, the Jets are rebuilding a new roster for whoever takes over as quarterback. After benching Justin Fields,<\/a> the Jets will dissect whether or not Tyrod Taylor is the answer. Unfortunately, his stock is only valuable as a backup, so the Jets are expected to draft a quarterback with their early draft selection in 2026. While they develop their potential rookie, the team should trade for Cousins to get him in the competition to see how his skills can translate in New York.<\/p>\n

\"Justin
Nov 13, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields (7) drops back to make a pass during the second half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

3. San Francisco 49ers<\/h3>\n

With backup Mac Jones generating trade interest already before the 2026 offseason, the 49ers will likely need to find a suitable backup for Brock Purdy<\/a>. The starting quarterback hasn’t been able to stay healthy since signing his monster contract. Cousins reuniting with Kyle Shanahan might finally get him to shine one last time if there is interest there.<\/p>\n

\"mac
Main Photo: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons may receive trade interest this upcoming offseason once the 2025 season is over in wake of the Michael Penix Jr. injury. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":255144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,27,4,6,6431,31],"tags":[7727,9212,6990,403,7777,32243,7330,7325,4443],"class_list":["post-255143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-falcons","category-dolphins","category-jets","category-nfl-teams","category-49ers","tag-atlanta-falcons-news","tag-brock-purdy","tag-justin-fields","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-new-york-jets-news","tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","tag-tua-tagovailoa"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255143"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255165,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255143\/revisions\/255165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}