Kirk Cousins to guest on ESPN ‘Postseason NFL Countdown’: a step towards a post-career media role?

There’s a lot of speculation about what’s ahead for Kirk Cousins. The 36-year-old quarterback signed a four-year, $$180 million free agency contract with the Atlanta Falcons this offseason, but then saw them draft Michael Penix Jr. in the first round and eventually bench Cousins for Penix in Week 16. So there’s a lot of talk on if they will cut or trade him elsewhere, and it does seem likely that some team will still see value in giving Cousins another shot this fall. But, before that, Cousins is doing something else interesting; appearing as a guest analyst on ESPN’s Postseason NFL Countdown Saturday in preparation for the ESPN/ABC broadcast of the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs divisional playoff game.

At this point, it seems most probable that this doesn’t presage an imminent move to an announcing booth or studio show for Cousins. While his tenure with the Falcons seems potentially limited, and while his numbers this year were far from good (3,508 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, and a 66.7 percent completion mark, including two sub-200-yard games in his last four starts and nine picks against one touchdown in his five starts), he’s only a year removed from a long and impressive run with the Minnesota Vikings (which, however, did not include the Minneapolis Miracle: take note, media). And there are lots of teams that could possibly use him at least for a season or two if he returns to 2023 or even earlier-2024 form.

However, it’s still worth noting this guest analyst appearance. Moves like this with current players show what players networks have interest in, and also indicate that the players are at least interested in exploring media work. And they provide some useful media reps for those players. An underrated part of what’s led to Greg Olsen’s success in the booth is the way he got to call a couple of games for Fox and twice serve as an ESPN studio guest analyst while still playing, leading to Fox holding a spot for him when he did eventually retire.

And it’s no secret that networks love hiring quarterbacks as NFL analysts, whether for booths or studio shows. And Cousins’ NFL resume (42,979 career passing yards, 288 touchdowns and 126 interceptions with a 66.9 percent completion mark, four Pro Bowl selections) certainly stacks up well against that of many current analysts, even with his career likely not quite done. And he’s also shown an openness to media work before, including with being featured on Netflix/NFL Films/Omaha Productions’ Quarterback series (unusual, considering how so many pivots apparently didn’t want to do it for the second season that they pivoted to Receiver), and winning plaudits for that. He has expressed some unusual views at times, but that hasn’t kept him from media gigs so far.

At any rate, it will be worth watching Cousins’ appearance here. It’s unlikely it means an immediate media transition for him, and it may not even lead to an eventual one. But it does suggest that he’s on the radar at at least ESPN, and that he has at least some interest in media work. And maybe that becomes a post-career role for him.