Cousins says on Netflix's 'Quarterback' he played through arm injury to keep Falcons' starting job

ATLANTA — Kirk Cousins said on the Netflix docuseries ''Quarterback'' that he played through an injury to his throwing arm last season in part to keep from losing his starting job with the Atlanta Falcons to rookie backup Michael Penix Jr.

At minicamp last month, Cousins said he realized after last season he wasn't as healthy as he thought he was at the time, citing an ankle injury that affected his mobility.

In the seventh and final episode of the second season of the Netflix show, which was released on Tuesday, Cousins said he made the best decision he could at the time after taking a big hit to his right shoulder and ribcage by New Orleans defensive end Payton Turner on Nov. 10.

Cousins was seen in an earlier episode telling training staff on the sideline he bruised his elbow ''pretty good'' but insisted he was all right and never missed time.

''Immediately my elbow lit up, and I knew I irritated something,'' Cousins said on the show. ''Had shooting pain kind of right through inside my elbow. My shoulder started to really throb, so I knew right away, like, ‘OK this is a little more serious.' Once I lost my shoulder and my elbow, I didn't have many other places to lean on to get the power I needed.''

Cousins was listed on the NFL's official injury report in Week 11 with "right shoulder, right elbow" limiting his participation in one practice, but that was the only time the Falcons put him on the list all season. Cousins threw eight interceptions with just one touchdown pass over the next four games, and the Falcons lost three of them before turning to Penix.

Cousins said on ''Quarterback'' he did not want to come out because he was concerned about his starting status, citing a 2010 autobiography by Drew Brees that referenced advice from Doug Flutie to never let the backup see the field.

''If you sit down Week 10 and take two or three weeks or more to let it heal, you may never get your job back," Cousins said. "That was something I always was aware of, that in this league, if you give someone else the chance, if you want to be Wally Pipp and there's Lou Gehrig behind you, that can happen.''

Also on ''Quarterback,'' Cousins said he felt ''a little bit misled'' by Atlanta signing him in free agency last year before selecting Penix with the eighth pick in the draft. He said he might have re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings had he known the Falcons would draft a QB in the top 10.

"If I had the information around free agency, it certainly would've affected my decision,'' Cousins said on the first episode of the season. ''I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there if both teams are going to be drafting a quarterback high."

His wife, Julie, emotionally described on the docuseries the difficult week for the couple when Cousins was benched for Penix. The day Cousins was called into the office by Falcons coach Raheem Morris to discuss the demotion, he called Penix to encourage the rookie before returning to the house.

''That is the kind of man he is,'' Julie Cousins said, her voice cracking.

Cousins, who turns 37 in August, remains on Atlanta's roster with the beginning of training camp two weeks away. This will be his 14th NFL season since being drafted in the fourth round by Washington out of Michigan State in 2012.

His youngest son, 6-year-old Turner, consoled him after the benching by telling him, ''It's OK you're kicked off the team, because now you can spend more time with us playing football in the basement,'' Cousins said on the episode, laughing as he recounted the interaction. ''I always said that I wanted to play long enough so that my boys would be able to understand what daddy does, and those comments reminded me that I may still have to play a little longer for them to truly understand what dad does.''

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