Vikings Fans Are in “Wait and See” Mode with QB Kirk Cousins
One of the big storylines of this offseason for the Vikings is in regard to QB Kirk Cousins future with the team.
For the first time in his tenure with the team, he is set to enter the final year of his contract in 2023 and become a free agent in March 2024. Recently, we at PurplePTSD put out a poll prompting Vikings fans to answer the question of what they would do with Cousins. There were three options:
- Wait until the end of the season to decide
- Extend him
- Let him walk in free agency
The majority of fans seem to be in “wait and see” mode with the Vikings quarterback, with 55.3% of the vote opting to wait until the end of the regular season to decide whether or not they want Cousins to stick around.
Cousins, soon to turn 35 years old, has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the league throughout his career, at least from a statistical basis. He has never missed a game due to injury during his eight years as a full-time starter, and in each of those eight years, he’s thrown for at least 3500 yards and 25 TDs. It is the longest such streak in the league.
That being said, the playoff success hasn’t always been there with Cousins. The Vikings signed him in 2018 following a trip to the NFC Championship Game the previous year, and he was supposed to be their ticket to more success. That obviously hasn’t happened with Minnesota winning just one playoff game in the past five years.
Cousins may not be able to be relied upon for the long-term future given his age, either. As a result, the Vikings have been open to finding other solutions at the QB position. They drafted Kellen Mond in 2021 (a failed experiment), traded for Nick Mullens in 2022, and drafted Jaren Hall in 2023.
The decision of whether or not to keep Cousins is a difficult one, and it might just come down to how much success Minnesota has with him in the second year of Kevin O’Connell’s coaching tenure. If the bottom falls out this year, and the Vikings have a top-10 pick, they may as well go for one of the top quarterbacks in this upcoming draft class. If not, they may have no other choice but to keep Cousins around for at least one or two more years.
We also have to keep in mind the fact that the Vikings will eat $28.5 million in dead money if Cousins isn’t on the roster next season. It’s a huge total against Minnesota’s 2024 salary cap, especially considering T.J. Hockenson, Danielle Hunter, and Marcus Davenport will be due for new contracts next year as well. If Minnesota can get Cousins for cheaper than that total, why not just run it back for a couple more seasons?
Regardless, next spring will be a very interesting one in Minnesota as they try to navigate their huge free agency class.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.