Kirk Cousins’ latest jackpot contract has already moved the Atlanta Falcons’ new quarterback past Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees on unofficial all-time NFL earnings lists, thanks to a $50 million signing bonus.

Cousins’ $281 million career total and the $130 million remaining on his new four-year, $180 million contract puts him on pace to pass Tom Brady for third in 2025, behind Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford, per Over the Cap (Russell Wilson also could factor).

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$100 million gamble on Kirk Cousins announces the Falcons are done being patient

It’s a remarkable achievement.

As a fourth-round draft choice in 2012, Cousins didn’t start earning big money until after playing out his four-year, $2.57 million rookie contract. While solid across 145 career starts with three teams, Cousins has long been considered better at the negotiating table than on the field. Until his career produces the playoff success upon which quarterback legacies are built, Cousins (1-3 record in the postseason) will remain the only longtime starting quarterback in NFL history best known for his bank account.

Cousins has ranked about 15th on average among veteran starting quarterbacks in eight appearances in my annual Quarterback Tiers surveys of coaches and executives. He ranked about eighth in average annual salary during those seasons. The ratio of his average Tiers ranking (15.4) to his average salary rank (8.1) equals 1.89-1. It’s the largest ratio among 52 quarterbacks with more than three Quarterback Tiers appearances, affirming Cousins’ reputation for maximizing his wallet.

The Kirk Cousins Index stacks the 10 quarterbacks with the highest ratios since Quarterback Tiers debuted in 2014 (minimum four appearances), offering additional perspective for each.

1. Kirk Cousins

Tiers appearances: 8

Average Tiers rank: 15.4

Average salary rank: 8.1

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.89-1

Cousins trails Rodgers, Stafford, Brady, Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson on the all-time career earnings list, counting fully guaranteed salaries owed to players in 2024, per Over the Cap. The totals in the table include large 2024 payouts for Cousins ($62.5 million, including the $50 million bonus), Wilson ($39 million, mostly owed by Denver), Rodgers ($38.2 million) and Stafford ($31 million). Team logos for players reflect their current or primary teams.

Cousins is one of 36 quarterbacks with at least 50 starts since his QB Tiers debut in 2016. His teams have been much better on offense (13th out of 36 in EPA per start, per TruMedia) than on defense/special teams (28th of 36) while posting a 65-53-2 (.550) record in those starts.

The Washington Commanders are still searching for a long-term successor to Cousins six years after letting him leave in free agency. They rank 27th among the 32 NFL teams in offensive EPA per play since Cousins departed.

Is Cousins underrated?

If he returns to form coming off a torn Achilles suffered in October, he should be worth about 2.4 additional wins per season for the Falcons.

ESPN’s Total QBR metric allows us to make these calculations because, historically, a 50 QBR (out of 100 possible) will win half the games. Cousins’ average QBR in his past 17 starts (56.3) equates to 9.6 expected wins (with average defense/special teams) in a 17-game season, while the Falcons’ average QBR last season (42.2) equates to 7.2 expected wins.

Although Cousins deserves credit for landing fully guaranteed contracts in Minnesota, the practical impact might be overstated because teams rarely release productive starters. However, Cousins’ willingness to play on the franchise tag and sign short-term deals — eschewing the false security that comes with non-guaranteed years at the end of longer-term contracts — strengthened his leverage and helped his pay keep pace with the increasing salary cap.

Wilson and Dak Prescott — who could reset the market this offseason just three years after signing his last deal — have also taken short-term deals to rise from mid-round picks to among the league’s top earners.

2. Colin Kaepernick

Tiers appearances: 4

Average Tiers rank: 22.3

Average salary rank: 13.0

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.71-1

Kaepernick was coming off his breakout 2013 season when he debuted at 14th in the inaugural edition of Quarterback Tiers. The 49ers had just signed him to a six-year extension that slotted his salary sixth in average per year (APY). His future appeared bright.

He quickly lost traction, however, as the team around him fell apart and injuries became a factor. Kaepernick bottomed out with a No. 29 ranking in the 2016 Quarterback Tiers, published a few weeks before he first knelt during the national anthem before a 49ers preseason game. That would be his final season in the league.

Kaepernick was among 30 quarterbacks to make at least 30 starts from 2014 to ’17, the seasons he appeared in Quarterback Tiers. Of those 30 quarterbacks, only Josh McCown-led offenses were less productive from an EPA per start standpoint, while only Drew Brees got worse support as a starter from his defense/special teams. That combination explains Kaepernick’s 11-24 (.314) starting record over that stretch.

Tiers appearances: 7

Average Tiers rank: 18.1

Average salary rank: 12.0

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.51 to 1

This would be the Joe Flacco Index, not the Kirk Cousins Index, if Flacco had not appeared in the 2021 Quarterback Tiers (where he ranked 34th) while ranking 40th in APY. That was the season Flacco landed with Philadelphia as a potential starter, before the Eagles named Jalen Hurts to the role.

Flacco’s red-hot run through the 2012 postseason with the Ravens featured 11 touchdown passes, zero interceptions and Super Bowl MVP honors, helping him land a six-year, $120.6 million extension that reset the market. His timing could not have been better for maximizing financial gain. The Ravens wound up paying for past production.

Flacco was one of 34 quarterbacks with at least 40 starts over the seven seasons in which he appeared in Quarterback Tiers. His offenses ranked 29th out of the 34 in offensive EPA per start, ahead of only the offenses for Derek Carr, Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky, Case Keenum and Blake Bortles. Flacco managed a 36-40 starting record across those seasons, mostly because only two of those 34 quarterbacks — Josh Allen and Trubisky — got more EPA support per start from their defenses and special teams.

4. Jay Cutler

Tiers appearances: 4

Average Tiers rank: 20.5

Average salary rank: 13.8

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.49-1

The Chicago Bears acquired Cutler from Denver in 2009 and extended his contract through 2013, at which point there was considerable speculation over whether the team would extend his contract again, and for how much. At the time, a contract negotiator from another team predicted someone would pay huge money to Cutler whether or not the quarterback deserved it.

“I think there will be a team desperate for a quarterback who doesn’t like the quarterbacks in the draft,” this exec said then. “Maybe they think they’re close and the GM says Jay Cutler is no different from Joe Flacco, that you can win a championship with him. It just takes one of 32 teams to make that judgment, and I think there’s a good chance someone will. Cutler can still be pretty darn good.”

Sure enough, the Bears signed Cutler to a seven-year extension with the NFL’s seventh-highest APY entering the 2014 season. The results mirrored what Kaepernick and the 49ers experienced over the next four seasons. The Bears and Miami Dolphins combined to go 18-31 (.367) with Cutler in the lineup from 2014 to ’17, his Quarterback Tiers seasons. Only four of 30 quarterbacks with at least 30 starts over that span led less-productive offenses than the one Cutler led, while only five of these quarterbacks got worse support from their defenses and special teams.

5. Sam Bradford

Tiers appearances: 5

Average Tiers rank: 24.8

Average salary rank: 17.2

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.44-1

Bradford entered the NFL as the first pick in the 2010 draft, one year before the rookie wage scale suppressed salaries. His rookie deal carried a $13 million APY that ranked 10th in the league, between the deals for Peyton Manning and Rodgers. That should have set up Bradford for massive extensions, but he suffered two torn ACLs in a 10-month span, sidelining him for the 2014 season and precipitating his trade to Philadelphia.

Through the injuries and unrelated career turbulence, Bradford was always talented enough to command a starting opportunity and the money that came with it but never consistently productive enough to have staying power.

Bradford had already earned $51 million from his 49-start career with the Rams before making his Quarterback Tiers debut in 2014 (the Rams would pay him another $14 million before trading him to the Eagles).

From that point forward, the bottom line on Bradford was breathtaking:

• $24 million for 14 starts with the Eagles
• $25 million for 17 starts with the Vikings
• $15.9 million for three starts with the Cardinals

The Eagles acquired Bradford on his rookie deal, started him for 14 games in 2015 (7-7 record, pedestrian stats) and then signed him to a two-year, $36 million extension, only to trade up for Carson Wentz in the 2016 draft. Bradford protested, refusing to attend voluntary offseason camps. The Eagles held onto him, then traded him to Minnesota for a first-round pick when the Vikings lost starter Teddy Bridgewater to injury.

While Bradford signed some notable contracts, his low standing among Tiers voters was a strong driver of his place on the Kirk Cousins Index.

Bradford was one of 33 quarterbacks to make at least 30 starts from 2014 to ’18. Only five of those quarterbacks (Carr, Kaepernick, Bortles, McCown and Brock Osweiler) led worse offenses by EPA per start. Bradford managed a 16-18 (.471) record because only seven of those 33 quarterbacks got greater support on defense/special teams.

6. Carson Palmer

Tiers appearances: 4

Average Tiers rank: 15.5

Average salary rank: 11.3

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.38-1

Like Bradford, Palmer entered the NFL as a No. 1 pick (in 2003) before the league and its players agreed upon a wage scale for rookies. As a result, Palmer had already earned more than $100 million before making his Quarterback Tiers debut in 2014. He commanded more than $65 million in additional compensation over his final four seasons, ninth-most among quarterbacks in the league over that period — slightly ahead of Cutler and Bradford, and well ahead of a couple of other decent quarterbacks in Brady and Rodgers.

Palmer posted a 28-15-1 (.648) record during his four-year run in Quarterback Tiers (2014-17), all with Arizona. That ranked seventh among 30 quarterbacks with at least 30 starts over that span. It was a team effort. His teams ranked seventh in offensive EPA per start and eighth on defense/special teams among those quarterbacks.

Did Tiers voters underrate Palmer? They appreciated his toughness in an offense that invited punishment with its emphasis on deep passing, but they also docked him for interceptions and feared the end was fast approaching physically.

7. Eli Manning

Tiers appearances: 6

Average Tiers rank: 13.5

Average salary rank: 10.2

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.33-1

There isn’t much difference between where Manning — another No. 1 pick under the old CBA — ranked in Tiers and where he ranked from an APY standpoint. Both rankings were probably too high for the 2014-19 period Manning appeared in Tiers.

Similarities abound between Manning and Flacco as quarterbacks whose pedigrees as Super Bowl winners propped up their reputations across future years in the absence of commensurate production. The New York Giants had a 32-51 (.386) record while paying nearly $120 million to Manning from 2014 to ’19, per Spotrac.

Manning was one of 29 quarterbacks to make at least 40 starts over his six-year run in Quarterback Tiers. Six of those 29 quarterbacks led offenses that were worse from an EPA standpoint (Flacco, Carr, Cutler, Trubisky, Keenum and Bortles). Unlike Flacco, Manning did not benefit from strong support on defense/special teams, which is why his Giants lost so frequently.

Tiers appearances: 9

Average Tiers rank: 20.6

Average salary rank: 15.6

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.32-1

Tannehill would rank third on this list without a No. 32 APY ranking for 2014, the final year of his rookie contract. He’s the only quarterback listed here with any Tiers-era seasons on a rookie deal signed in the wage-scale era (since 2011).

Tannehill appeared in Quarterback Tiers heading into every season but 2018. He was one of 38 quarterbacks with at least 50 starts over those nine seasons. The offenses and defenses/special teams associated with him both ranked 27th out of 38 in EPA production, which makes Tannehill’s 59-50 (.541) starting record seem fortunate. A couple of really strong seasons in Tennessee helped.

Tiers appearances: 6

Average Tiers rank: 17.8

Average salary rank: 13.7

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.30-1

Garoppolo’s teams went 36-20 (.643) in his starts during the 2018-23 stretch he appeared in Quarterback Tiers. That was seventh-best among the 30 quarterbacks with at least 40 starts during those seasons. His offenses (seventh-best among the 30) and defenses/special teams (ninth-best) were generally strong.

How much credit did Garoppolo deserve relative to his primary coach, Kyle Shanahan, and the players around him? Tiers voters withheld some.

Tiers appearances: 5

Average Tiers rank: 17.0

Average salary rank: 14.2

Tiers to salary ratio: 1.20-1

The fourth No. 1 pick from the pre-wage-scale CBA on this list, Smith overcame a rough start to his career in San Francisco and even returned from the gruesome leg injury he suffered late in his career with Washington. The $71 million he collected for 16 starts with Washington arguably wasn’t enough, given the nature of his injury.

Bigger picture, Smith earned $98.5 million over the 2014-18 seasons, sixth-most for any quarterback over that stretch. His teams went 45-26 (.634), sixth-best among 27 quarterbacks with at least 40 starts over those seasons. He led pretty good offenses (12th-best EPA among those 27 quarterbacks) and benefited from the fifth-best support on defense/special teams, but Tiers votes never saw him as a driving force on offense.

The full Cousins Index breakdown appears below.

(Photos of, Kirk Cousins, center, Sam Bradford, left and Joe Flacco: Mike Stewart / Associated Press, Christian Peterson, Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)

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