The Cardinals will be cutting quarterback Kyler Murray, who’ll be available to any other team. The Cardinals, meanwhile, will need an available quarterback.
They have Jacoby Brissett under contract for 2026, at a base package of $5.44 million. They agreed to terms on Monday with Gardner Minshew, on a one-year, $8 million deal. (More on that coming in a bit.)
Brissett is generally expected to be gone. Minshew surely isn’t expected to be the starter. So what will the Cardinals do?
The answer could be Kirk Cousins.
New coach Mike LaFleur comes from the McVay-Shanahan hive. And they love them some Kirk Cousins.
He will be cut on Wednesday. He will be available to any team. And as LaFleur tries to install his offense, he’ll want a quarterback who can run it.
It would be interesting to see Cousins in the same division as McVay and Shanahan, playing both of them twice per year.
Cousins needs a landing spot. He needs a place where he’ll be the starter. In Arizona, he would be.
Money will be an issue. Cousins has perfected the art of getting paid. He’ll command more than the $10 million the Falcons owe him for 2026.
Look around. Where else would he be QB1? While the Steelers would be wise to drop the Aaron Rodgers torch and pivot to Cousins, they apparently won’t. The Jets are a possibility, especially with Cousins emerging as a potential media presence.
Still, the Cardinals have a clear vacancy at the top of the depth chart. Cousins would be an obvious choice to fill it.
Falcons Clips
The February 7 arrest of Falcons defensive end James Pearce Jr. wasn’t his first interaction with law enforcement. It turned out to be the most recent.
Michael Rothstein and Marc Raimondi of ESPN posted on Monday afternoon a lengthy item listing at least seven 911 calls WNBA player Rickea Jackson had made in the months before Pearce allegedly rammed her car, repeatedly, before allegedly fleeing and eluding police and allegedly committing aggravated battery of a police officer.
The article, which was published in the early hours of free agency, largely went unnoticed.
Per the report, police records show that Pearce was told on January 13 to stay away from the home of a woman who was described as his ex-girlfriend. Officers were repeatedly sent to the home of Pearce’s “on-again, off-again” girlfriend in the preceding weeks; the name(s) of the individuals who had called authorities were redacted from the documents.
The ESPN article mentions other incidents from January 2026 and November 2025. The most recent visits by police happened on February 1 and February 2, days before Pearce traveled to San Francisco for the NFL Honors ceremony.
As one source with another team told PFT, the Falcons and Pearce could possibly face scrutiny, if the NFL believes any of the prior incidents required notification of the league office under the Personal Conduct Policy.
Pearce has been charged with multiple counts, including five felonies. Pearce has professed his innocence via a statement issued by his lawyers. The league is reviewing the February 7 incident. Pearce could eventually be placed on paid leave.
Former NFL tight end Hayden Hurst announced his retirement on Monday.
Hurst has not played in the NFL since 2024.
The Ravens made him a first-round pick in 2018, and he played two seasons in Baltimore before two seasons with the Falcons, one with the Bengals, one with the Panthers and one with the Chargers.
He appeared in 88 games, with 41 starts, in his career.
Hurst finished with 195 receptions for 1,902 yards and 15 touchdowns.
The Falcons have agreed to terms with linebacker Christian Harris, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media reports.
The Texans made Harris a third-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons in Houston.
Harris appeared in 15 games last season but started only one game and played only 92 defensive snaps. He saw action on 173 special teams snaps.
Harris, 25, played most of the defensive snaps in his first two seasons. He missed most of the 2024 season with a lingering calf injury.
In his career, Harris has 206 tackles, four sacks, one interception, 13 passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
The list of 2026 compensatory draft picks had one key omission.
The Bears did not receive one as a result of the hiring of assistant G.M. Ian Cunningham to be the General Manager of the Falcons.
The NFL previously explained to PFT that the Bears didn’t get two third-round compensatory picks (one this year, one next year) because president of football operations Matt Ryan, not Cunningham, is the “primary football executive” in Atlanta. In response to the follow-up question of why the Saints got compensatory picks when Terry Fontenot was hired to be the Falcons’ previous G.M. — at a time when Rich McKay was president and CEO of the Falcons — the league said McKay was not the “primary football executive.”
The issue gained momentum during Super Bowl week, when Ryan said Cunningham is in charge of free agency and the draft. At the Scouting Combine, Cunningham said the Bears should have gotten the picks.
The seemingly inconsistent drawing of lines has created plenty of confusion, and it has angered Bears fans. That’s a natural consequence of the revision to the Rooney Rule that rewards teams for developing minority coaches or executives who fill one of the top jobs in the sport.
Originally, the proposed revision to the Rooney Rule would have given the picks to the team making the hire. That version of the proposal received immediate pushback, under the argument that it could stigmatize minority hires who would potentially be perceived as getting the jobs in order for their teams to get the extra picks.
The root problem continues to be the league’s abysmal history when it comes to hiring minority candidates for head-coaching and G.M. jobs. As former NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith has said, there’s no real accountability for the league’s collective failure to make hires that defy basic demographic statistics.
Absent accountability, the issue becomes something that the Commissioner will be asked about at every Super Bowl press conference (reporters employed by the league should tread lightly), with no true changes happening. The seemingly arbitrary decision to refuse to give the Bears the picks serves only to draw extra attention to the overall problem.
If, after all, the Bears had gotten the picks, would anyone have complained?
The Bills have agreed to terms with cornerback Dee Alford on a three-year, $21 million deal, with $10 million guaranteed, according to multiple reports.
Alford, 28, has spent the past four seasons in Atlanta after two seasons in the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He won the Grey Cup in 2021.
In 2025, Alford posted a career high three interceptions and 13 passes defensed and also contributed 67 tackles and two sacks.
Alford has totaled 216 tackles, 3.5 sacks, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and 10 tackles for loss.
Alford will join Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston in the Bills’ cornerbacks room.
One of Tua Tagovailoa’s Dolphins teammates will be joining him in Atlanta.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that punter Jake Bailey has agreed to sign with the Falcons. The news comes shortly after word broke that Tagovailoa will sign a one-year deal with the Falcons after he’s officially released by the Dolphins on Wednesday.
It’s a three-year, $9 million deal for Bailey.
Bailey spent the last three seasons with the Dolphins and had an average of 42.5 net yards per kick in 2025. He played in New England during his first four seasons and has a career average of 41.1 net yards.
Bradley Pinion handled the punting duties for Atlanta last season, but he is out of contract for 2026.
The Falcons have also agreed to sign kicker Nick Folk, so there will be a new look on special teams under new head coach Kevin Stefanski.
It didn’t take long for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to find a new home.
After the Dolphins released him earlier on Monday, Tagovailoa has agreed to a one-year deal to join the Falcons, according to multiple reports.
The Falcons had been named as a team that could pursue Tagovailoa.
With the Dolphins still on the hook to pay Tagovailoa $54 million, the quarterback will sign with the Falcons for $1.3 million — the veterans’ minimum.
The move gives the Falcons a pair of left-handed quarterbacks, with 2024 No. 8 overall pick Michael Penix Jr. the incumbent starter. But Penix suffered a torn ACL in November, and may not be ready in time to start the 2026 regular season.
Tagovailoa, 28, was benched by the Dolphins late in the 2025 season. He started 14 games for Miami last year, completing 67.7 percent of his throws for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. His 3.9 percent interception rate was the highest of his career.
Tagovailoa is expected to receive the bulk of Atlanta’s first-team reps until Penix is healthy.
New Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski will have a familiar face on Atlanta’s defensive line in 2026.
Defensive end Cameron Thomas has agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million deal with the Falcons, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Thomas, 26, was a Cardinals third-round pick in the 2022 draft. He was traded to the Chiefs at the start of the 2024 season and played four games for the club before he was waived in November.
The Browns — then coached by Stefanski — claimed Thomas and the defensive end served in a reserve role for Cleveland.
In 2025, Thomas appeared in all 17 games, recording 28 total tackles with 2.5 sacks and seven quarterback hits. He was on the field for 29 percent of Cleveland’s defensive snaps and 57 percent of special teams snaps.
The Falcons are doubling down on wide receiver signings.
According to multiple reports, they have agreed to terms with Jahan Dotson. It’s a two-year deal worth $15 million for the former Commanders and Eagles wideout.
The Falcons agreed to sign Olamide Zaccheaus earlier in Monday’s free agent negotiating window.
Dotson was a 2022 first-round pick in Washington and spent two years with the Commanders before being traded to the Eagles ahead of the 2024 season. Dotson caught 37 passes for 478 yards and a touchdown in 34 regular season games for Philly. He also had three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown in the team’s run to a Super Bowl title in his first year with the team.
