"Kirk Cousins hates Michael Penix Jr." - NFL fans react as Falcons QB admits playing with injury to avoid rookie starting on Netflix's Quarterback

The Netflix "Quarterback" series gives NFL fans an in-depth look into the lives of their favorite signal-callers. The second season of the show features Kirk Cousins, Joe Burrow and Jared Goff.

In the final episode of the season, Atlanta Falcons QB revealed that he played through an injury so that he would not lose his job to rookie Michael Penix Jr.

"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, ‘Okay, 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.

“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. 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.”

Cousins was added to the injury list in Week 11 for his right shoulder and elbow. He got hurt after taking a big hit from the New Orleans DE Payton Turner in November.

However, Cousins' revelation did not sit well with the fans. Many called him out for not allowing Penix Jr. to play, while others understood where he came from.

Check out some of the reactions below:

"Yeah, hope he regretted that the minute it came out of his mouth. Should’ve just said: ‘Every man for himself. The hell with the team,’" wrote a fan.

"That mentality kept us out the playoffs," tweeted this fan.

However, some fans sympathise with Cousins' decision to play through the injury:

"As someone that was mad at first in kirk , as a fan and competitor, i ain't mad at this. we would all do the same , it sucks for us but we shouldn't of given kirk all that money plus draft a qb. im glad we did, but still," a fan stated.

"Man, ANY athlete would do the same thing lol. He shouldn’t have been able to make that decision himself, coach should have made a big boy decision and pulled Kirk himself. Can’t be mad at the athlete for wanting to play. Not how that works," wrote another fan.

"Can't blame him tbh. Bro didn't want to lose his job. Personally, if there's someone behind me ready to take my job, I'm doing everything in my power to keep myself out of a position to lose it," tweeted this fan.

How was Kirk Cousins' last season?

Kirk Cousins started the season strong with the Falcons but ended it on the bench. As a starter, he helped his team get a 7-7 record in his first 14 games. Cousins threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns against a career-high 16 interceptions. However, after his performance started to decline following the injury, the QB was replaced by Michael Penix Jr.

Currently, Cousins is preparing for his 14th NFL season with the Atlanta Falcons. It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for the 37-year-old.