Just hours before Saturday’s Divisional Round matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins surprised everyone by announcing he would be involved in ESPN’s pregame coverage for the game. And in the eyes of most media pundits, he certainly didn’t disappoint.
Cousins has always had a charismatic personality dating back to his memorable moment where he shouted “You like that” at reporters during his time in Washington. But on Saturday, we saw some great in-depth analysis to boot from Cousins when discussing how the Texans could deal with the Chiefs defensive scheme led by longtime defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Kirk Cousins with a film breakdown of the approach from Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo. 🏈📺🎙️ #NFL https://t.co/pJPpSw3iw5 pic.twitter.com/xl8Li4Jd3p
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025
While some of the more casual football fans likely didn’t need or even want this kind of in-depth scheme breakdown, others who care more about the X’s and O’s loved this breakdown from Cousins.
Kirk Cousins doing a good job with the ESPN pregame crew. Still being in the league is such an advantage because of his knowledge of current schemes and thinking.
— Judd Zulgad (@jzulgad) January 18, 2025
I’m excited to see Kirk Cousins on TV. That’s definitely his calling.
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) January 18, 2025
Later on in the broadcast, Cousins openly compared his skills to that of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, admitting that he sometimes finds it hard to believe that they share the same position.
“There’s times where I watch Pat play, and it’s hard to believe we play the same position.”
Kirk Cousins on Patrick Mahomes. pic.twitter.com/E04YYnhw4k
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025
Again, many media members got a kick out of this brutally honest assessment from Cousins of his skills compared to Mahomes.
.@KirkCousins8 is gonna be PHENOMENAL on television 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/TSs4wIhaAs
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 18, 2025
Kirk Cousins is already a really good analyst. And he’s not even an analyst yet. pic.twitter.com/bXOoNWkAxg
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) January 18, 2025
Cousins even had a heads-up moment where he took over much of the conversation after Scott Van Pelt was experiencing issues with his mic, which is quite impressive considering his lack of experience as an analyst.
SVP with some mic issues. 🏈📺🎙️😂 #NFL pic.twitter.com/LWCWo7hhSC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025
Cousins has an uncertain future as an NFL quarterback. While he has three years left in his four-year deal with the Falcons, the team notably benched him in favor of rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. back in Week 16.
With that in mind, it certainly seems plausible that Cousins could be setting up a career in sports media once his NFL playing career is ultimately done.
Either way, following this guest appearance on ESPN, the option of pursuing a media career will likely at least be on the table should he want to pursue it.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.