Raheem Morris: Kirk Cousins gave me a hug, said he’ll talk to me soon

The Falcons will ostensibly be moving on from Kirk Cousins this offseason after benching him for rookie Michael Penix Jr. in December.

In his Monday press conference, head coach Raheem Morris gave Cousins credit for how he handled things in the last few weeks of the season.

“Obviously, when you’re talking about Kirk, we just talked about where we ended it last, and he did exactly what he told me he would do — he would be the best backup quarterback in the National Football League, and that’s where he’s at,” Morris said. “So obviously, those things will come up in these same discussions. Those things are all masked themselves.

“Kirk left today, gave me a hug, and said he’ll talk to me soon, and we’ll make some of those decisions, obviously, with him, obviously, because of his contract status and all the things that he’s talking about, right? So, you just never know, and I think that’s the part of the process that we’ll go through right now with him.”

As for how what the Falcons do with Cousins will affect the plan for the offseason, Morris deflected to General Manager Terry Fontenot.

“All things you really just focus on with Terry. That’s the Terry neighborhood,” Morris said. “We’ll get together and have those discussions. We’ll be able to put those things in alignment, how we’ve got to have it. It’s the cost of doing business, how you go about your process. All the things that I’ll definitely have high discussion with Terry about.”

The Falcons went 7-7 with Cousins as a starter, with the quarterback completing 67 percent of his passes for 3,508 yards with 18 touchdowns and a league-high 16 interceptions. He was in the first season of a four-year deal he signed with Atlanta last March.