It was working out for him at least initially with the Atlanta Falcons. Kirk Cousins had the Dirty Birds at 6-3 and playing like a dark horse NFL MVP candidate before it hit the fan. Not long after Halloween, Cousins turned into a pumpkin. His play deteriorated to the point where he was benched in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr. Atlanta ended the season on a 2-6 slide, resulting in a miserable 8-9 finish.

Cousins was making the rounds at Radio Row in the lead-up to Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. One of the biggest revelations he put forth was a previously unknown shoulder injury suffered in Week 10’s road loss to the New Orleans Saints contributed mightily to his putrid second half. This may explain the lack of zip on his ball, but football is a game of injuries. Now it seems like he will be out in Atlanta.

Cousins went on GMFB: Overtime on Tuesday, citing that he has plenty of “good football left in (him).”

“I definitely feel like I have a lot of good football left in me. Time will tell. It’s still kind of uncertain. We’ll get to March and know a lot more. But I think the focus for me really is getting healthy. That’s really my focus is I gotta get healthy.”

He must be healthy, but this is the stuff that made the Pittsburgh Steelers once covet Russell Wilson.

“I’m no good to the Falcons, I’m no good to a team if I’m not feeling really good. That’s really where my focus has been through January and February now that the season has wound down, really taking all the time I can to get my body feeling really good.”

Wilson did not have the injury Cousins had, but there is a chance Cousins makes it over to Pittsburgh.

“I think the Achilles healed well. I think there was a little bit of just trying to get my right ankle back around the Achilles, but the Achilles itself healed really well. Even then, we were 6-3, was playing well, doing a lot of good things, even if the right ankle wasn’t perfect. Nobody’s perfect in this league. We’re never feeling 100 percent.”

News of this injury coming out does feel like something Wilson would do to control the narrative.

“So it didn’t really affect me too much, but then against the Saints [in Week 10], I got hit pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow. From there, kinda dealing with that, it was something I was working through. Just never could get it really to where I wanted it.”

All I know is an offseason of recovery and no rehab could allow for Cousins to return to peak form.

“Now that the season’s over, you have the time and the energy to say, OK, let’s get the right ankle back, let’s get the shoulder back, let’s get the elbow back, and if we can do that, [I] feel like I got a new life ahead of me in pro football.”

Unfortunately, I do think he plays another snap for Atlanta because Penix is their present and future.

Kirk Cousins is giving off vibes akin to Russell Wilson did last offseason

The situations could not possibly be any more different, but a former Pro Bowl player on the decline in their mid-to-late 30s is still the stuff of intrigue. Cousins and Wilson came into the NFL the same year in 2012. Neither were first or even second-round picks. Wilson went to Seattle in the third round, while Cousins was the second quarterback taken by Washington that spring later in the fourth round.

Their perseverance has made them easy to root for, at times… In truth, Cousins is still infinitely more likable than Wilson, who is equal parts corny as he is robot. Cousins partnering up with the Steelers could help Pittsburgh stay playoff viable. It would be the epitome of Falcons pain to see him flourish in Arthur Smith’s offense. However, arm strength was a major problem for Cousins during last season.

He may hail from Michigan, but he struggled to put any zip on a throw playing indoors. We thought it was Achilles fatigue, but it may have had more to do with a bum shoulder than we could have ever realized. Regardless, somebody is going to want to take a flier on Cousins this offseason because he is still a likable guy with something to prove. It may be Pittsburgh, or it may be somebody else entirely.

While he could stay in Atlanta, like Wilson, I do not see Cousins being a willing backup at this juncture.