Kevin O’Connell Addresses Kirk Cousins’ Future and the Task at Hand for the 2023 Vikings
Longtime Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen immediately speculated that quarterback Kirk Cousins threw his final pass with the team amid a season-ending injury on Sunday in Green Bay.
While Allen’s assessment could come true with Cousins’ pending free agency in 2024, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell at least left a sliver of hope out there that Cousins could return next year. Cousins’ 1-year, $35 million extension runs out after the season.
“Kirk Cousins is going to be healthy again,” O’Connell told reporters on Tuesday. “I know he’s going to be a free agent after this season, but Kirk knows how I feel about him, and that’ll be something that will hopefully work itself out. … You guys know how I feel about Kirk. Kirk knows how I feel about Kirk. I think he was playing as well as anybody in the National Football League.”
Cousins completed 69.5% of his passes for 2,331 yards and 18 TDs versus 5 interceptions this season. He tied Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the league lead in TDs, and Cousins ranked second in passing yards right behind Tagovailoa.
The league’s third-ranked quarterback for passer rating at 103.8, Cousins leaves a massive void for the Vikings. Newcomer Josh Dobbs, via Tuesday’s trade with the Arizona Cardinals, faces a steep climb to fill Cousins’ shoes after rookie Jaren Hall looks to make the best of a Week 9 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Vikings Focused on “Immediate Solution”
Minnesota moving on from Cousins in 2024 looked probable before and during the season. The 2024 NFL Draft features a dearth of talented quarterbacks, and some not named Caleb Williams or Drake Maye could emerge as a franchise quarterback.
“I think this immediate solution that we found provides us with a really quality player at a time where we were able to go out and get that player without potentially leaving the world of the future and the now – we were kind of able to accomplish the goal of both and help our football team,” O’Connell said regarding Dobbs.
Vikings Must Cope without Kirk Cousins
The Vikings found a way back to 4-4 after a 1-4 start in a season that looked lost at times. Minnesota will need to adapt on offense without Cousins, and the team’s success will ride on that adaptation in the final 10 weeks of the season.
“And one of the biggest parts about kind of coping with this, and we must do that…but coping with the fact that I believe he was experiencing his best season in the National Football League and where we could have gone as a team – hopefully we’re going to still get to that place,” O’Connell said. “But I know without Kirk Cousins and that high level of quarterback play we were getting from him week-in and week-out, it’s going to be a challenge. But like I said, one that we’ve got to accept and try to thrive.”
Cousins truly had a career year going with a projected 4,953 yards for 38 TDs versus 11 picks if he finished the season healthy. He would have eclipsed career highs in yards and TDs if he stayed healthy and kept to rate at the time of the Achilles tear.
Since arriving as a free agent in 2018, Cousins consistently put up big numbers and remained reliably durable week in and week out. He went 50-37-1 as he averaged 3,877.5 yards and 28.5 TDs per season.
If his last win over the Green Bay Packers is curtains for his time with the Vikings, he will go down as one the all-time leaders for passing in franchise history. Cousins ranks third in yards, second in TDs among past Vikings greats Fran Tarkenton and Tommy Kramer in the top 3.
