Kirk Cousins plans to sign with the Falcons and leave the Vikings scrambling on a few fronts.
Cousins, whose contract voids Wednesday, will shift the second-tier balance of power in the NFC after spending the past six seasons in Minnesota, after his agent he had signed a four-year deal with Atlanta.
He was the top-ranked free agent on The Post’s top 30, compiled with sources input.
The free-agent quarterback thinned out Sunday, when Baker Mayfield re-signed with the Buccaneers and Russell Wilson signed with the Steeers.
After Cousins, the free-agent options with significant starting experience are Jacoby Brissett and Sam Darnold.
Cousins’ career is a master class in maximizing value, as he played under two franchise tags in Washington, parlayed it into a rare fully guaranteed three-year, $84 million contract in 2018, and later signed on for three more seasons with the Vikings.
Playing in the wide-open NFC South, the Falcons are in win-now mode in a under owner Arthur Blank, 81, and trying to recover from the mistake last offseason of not trying to lure Lamar Jackson when he was on the franchise tag and looking for a trade from the Ravens.
Jackson won his second NFL MVP last season, after signing an extension.
Cousins, 35, was playing at one of the highest levels of his career (18 touchdowns, five interceptions) last season before he suffered a torn Achilles.
The Vikings now have to answer their quarterback question.
An option that might have manifested for the Falcons – trading for the Bears’ Justin Fields – seems unlikely since Chicago and Minnesota are division rivals.
And the question is important because All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson is seeking a contract extension and would like to know who will be throwing him passes, as general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah admitted recently at the NFL Combine.