Johnathan Walker:Kirk Cousins' recovery from torn Achilles leaves Falcons to play waiting game with star QB

FLOWERY BRANCH,Johnathan Walker Ga. – With a fresh contract in hand from his new team worth at least $100 million, just 4 ½ months since tearing his right Achilles tendon, it was the perfect time and place for Kirk Cousins to shed some light on his rehab and markers of progress.

After all, the Atlanta Falcons – and Arthur Blank’s checkbook – are banking on a complete recovery.

"I can take drops. I can play the quarterback position, if you will, throwing the football," Cousins said on Wednesday night, introduced at team’s headquarters as the projected let’s-win-now quarterback.

Good, but…

"I think the minute I would have to leave the pocket is where you’d say, ‘Yeah, he’s still recovering from an Achilles.’ But taking drops, making throws, that’s really no problem at this point."

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In other words, there’s still a ways to go in this rehab process – but no need to rush it.

Sure, you might be a bit nervous if it were your money. The Falcons just signed a 35-year-old quarterback with all of one career playoff victory on his résumé to a four-year, $180 million deal with a $50 million signing bonus. After the quarterback spent six seasons in the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Vikings let Cousins walk rather than pay the going rate at the position, such a rare thing in the NFL when it comes to established passers.

Now comes the wait. The Falcons, with some notable playmakers on the offense (hello, Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson), a formidable O-line, a rising defense, an energetic new coach and a stud kicker, can see the promised land with Cousins under center.

It’s not a stretch to say they are desperate to win. The franchise has never won a Super Bowl and hasn’t had as much as a winning season since 2017.

Yet the promise of fully injecting Cousins into the equation (which history suggests doesn’t mean extending plays while he scrambles out of the pocket) has to wait on his recovery. Cousins said he passed the team’s physical “as expected” upon signing his contract – except for the part of the evaluation that deals with the Achilles. That exam comes later.

"Obviously, the Achilles doesn’t pass right now," he said. "You expect (it) to in the next few months."

Remember the issue last year with Jimmy Garoppolo? The Las Vegas Raiders required a waiver for the quarterback's foot injury after signing the free agent last March. Coming off surgery, Garoppolo didn’t pass the physical until mid-July.

Unlike Jimmy G., at least Cousins has apparently passed enough of the exam to avoid panic. And he looked like a man in recovery mode as he conducted his first press conference as the marquee man. Dressed in a gray suit and wearing a red tie, Cousins didn’t limp or show any signs of discomfort with his gait as he walked into and out of the media workroom.

If Cousins keeps progressing without any setbacks, he aims to have complete recovery by late June, which would be roughly eight months since his injury derailed a sizzling season.

Here’s to modern medicine and rehab. Several years ago, recovery from a torn Achilles typically took a full year – which experts contend can still be the case now in some cases.

"I’m optimistic that I can be full-speed at practice before we break for the summer," Cousins said. "That’s kind of the goal I’ve got for myself."

He knows. There’s no sense in risking a setback by pushing too hard and too fast. The real games don’t begin until September. There’s still plenty to do in the lab, so to speak, learning a new offense and meshing with coordinator/play-caller Zac Robinson. He’s also eager to develop timing and chemistry with the playmakers on his offense, which comes with the work on the field.

So, caution is essential. Of course, Cousins will be under the watch of the Falcons’ training staff and conditioning coaches. And he gave a nod to Chad Cook, his full-time “body” coach. So, there are buffers in place to help him keep pace while recovering from the first surgery of his life.

"We do have a long runway," Cousins added. "What I’ve been told, going back to when I first injured it, you don’t rush it. You let time do its thing. It’s going to take time to fully heal that tissue, but as a competitor, you want to get back as fast as you can. Certainly, I’m trying to do that."

And with it will come the rush to deliver bang for the buck.