FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Kirk Cousins shrugged off any hard feelings Tuesday over the Atlanta Falcons drafting Michael Penix Jr., insisting he's ready to compete and doesn't think there will be any issues in the quarterback room.
Cousins spoke after the two quarterbacks worked together during an offseason training session at the Falcons' suburban complex in Flowery Branch.
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FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Kirk Cousins shrugged off any hard feelings Tuesday over the Atlanta Falcons drafting Michael Penix Jr., insisting he's ready to compete and doesn't think there will be any issues in the quarterback room.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, center, and Michael Penix Jr., left, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, right, and Michael Penix Jr., run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, left, and Michael Penix Jr., right, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr., right, and Kirk Cousins, left, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
“There's always going to be competition in this league,” Cousins said. “You've got to go out and earn it. I control what I can control and also understand there’s a lot I don't control. I learned a long time ago you've got to focus on what you can control.”
Cousins was one of the biggest free-agent signings of the offseason, agreeing to a $180 million, four-year deal with the Falcons that includes $100 million in guaranteed money. He was viewed as the missing piece on a team that has endured six straight losing seasons since its most recent playoff appearance in 2017.
Then, in the most shocking decision of the draft, the Falcons selected Penix with the No. 8 overall selection, which clearly caught Cousins off guard.
He didn't exactly endorse the selection of Penix, dodging a question about whether he would've signed with the Falcons if he knew they were planning to draft another quarterback in the first round.
“I don't really deal in hypotheticals,” Cousins said. “We could go down that path a long time in a lot of ways. It just doesn’t do us any good. I'm excited for this opportunity. I think it's a real privilege to play quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. I'm trying to make good on the opportunity that's been given to me with the way I work each day and the way we play this fall.”
The Falcons have insisted that Cousins is their No. 1 quarterback for now, while Penix is being groomed for a future starting role. The 13-year veteran said he's committed to making a potentially uncomfortable situation work to everyone's benefit.
“The quarterback room is a working force for one another,” he said. “We're all in there working together to help each other. That dynamic has always been there and will always be there.”
Even though he's yet to play a game for the Falcons, Cousins already finds himself at the center of two potentially troubling issues.
In addition to a potential quarterback controversy, the Falcons also are being investigated by the league for possible tampering over comments made by the quarterback at his introductory news conference, when he talked of speaking with players and staff members in Atlanta before his deal was finalized.
Cousins turned back a couple of questions on the tampering probe, saying he didn't want to speak on it while the league was in the midst of its investigation, though he did indicate there was no wrongdoing in his eyes.
“The league is still kind of going through that, so I'll let them do it. But there’s not a whole lot there," Cousins said, adding later that “if I said anything at the press conference, it was so innocent.”
Cousins showed little signs of the torn right Achilles tendon that cut short his final season with the Minnesota Vikings. He said the injury is not 100% healed, but he was able to do everything he wanted during the workout and expects to be ready to go by the start of training camp.
“It's progressing well,” said Cousins, who is 6 1/2 months into a rehab period that was expected to take up to nine months. “There's still more to go get.”
As for his dealings with a high-profile backup, Cousins insisted this is nothing new in his football career.
He recalled signing out of high school with Michigan State, only to learn a short time later that the Spartans were also offering a scholarship to future NFL quarterback Nick Foles. After his college career, he was a fourth-round pick of Washington, which had already selected Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall.
“I learned pretty quickly as a freshman in college that you've got to compete,” Cousins said. “That's the way it's always been and the way it will always be. This is consistent with my football journey as opposed to the exception.”
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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, center, and Michael Penix Jr., left, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, right, and Michael Penix Jr., run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, left, and Michael Penix Jr., right, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins runs drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr., right, and Kirk Cousins, left, run drills during an NFL football mini training camp practice on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.
At Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.
“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was "certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”
As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory, which Trump continues to deny.
The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.
A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.
“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”
For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.
Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.
On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears on track to becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee after Biden decided to step out of the race. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.
Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday's meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.
Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.
In a speech later Friday before a group of young Christian conservatives, Trump said he also asked Netanyahu during their meeting how “a Jewish person, or a person that loves Israel” can vote for Democrats.
He also laced into Harris for missing Netanyahu's speech and claimed she “doesn’t like Jewish people” and “doesn’t like Israel." Harris has been married to a Jewish man for a decade.
For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.
Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.
For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.
One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president," Miller said, meaning Trump.
Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.
In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.
He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.
In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”
Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu's praise.
Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.
Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Adriana Gomez Licon in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed. Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Price reported from New York.
Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Believers' Summit, Friday, July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks while meeting with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020, at the White House in Washington. Trump is due to talk face-to-face with Netanyahu for the first time in nearly four years. The meeting Friday, July 26, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago will mend a break that has lasted since 2021. Trump at the time blasted Netanyahu for being one of the first leaders to congratulate President Joe Biden for his election victory. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
