ESPN Predicts Kirk Cousins Will Land with a New Team in 2024
The NFL offseason is filled with rumors during the months of January and February before teams can actually begin making moves.
So far in 2024, one of the biggest products of the rumor mill has revolved around Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and where he could play this upcoming season. The veteran is set to hit free agency for the first time since 2018 and could be the missing piece for a number of teams on their way towards contention.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler published an article including some predictions of the landing spots for veteran quarterbacks like Cousins, Baker Mayfield, and Russell Wilson. In Fowler’s article, one of the predictions included the idea that Cousins will land with a new team in 2024.
That new team is the Atlanta Falcons, the favorite to land legendary head coach Bill Belichick.
ESPN Predicts Kirk Cousins Will Land with a New Team in 2024
Here is the defense of the prediction from Fowler:
The feeling out of New England was that Belichick planned to target an established veteran quarterback for the Patriots in 2024. If he gets the Atlanta job, as some expect, he can follow a similar blueprint.
Cousins might very well re-sign with Minnesota, but if not, the Falcons offer several high-end skill players on offense and an improving defense — they’re the proverbial quarterback away. “[Belichick] can help a talented yet underachieving team, and Atlanta is that,” an AFC executive said. “Cousins would be a great fit there.”
Cousins heading to Atlanta makes sense for a couple reasons. As Fowler suggests, they offer a very complete set of skill players on the offensive side of the ball, including Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson. They are in a great position to sign a veteran quarterback with nearly $26 million in salary cap space and multiple options to free up even more room.
Additionally, if the Falcons were to hire Belichick, the head coach likely would want to do his best to win now rather go through a long rebuild. Cousins offers that type of opportunity.
The QB has also expressed an interest in playing for Belichick if he were to leave Minnesota. He recently talked with Isabel Gonzalez of CBS Sports, and she asked about his desire to play for Bill Belichick, “I’m not going to turn down an opportunity to play with a future Hall of Fame coach. But we’ll have to see where March leads, it’s just a lot of unknowns right now.”
Ultimately, Cousins was playing some of the best football of his NFL career before he suffered his Achilles injury and was on pace for over 5000 passing yards along with 38 passing TDs. Inevitably, his talent will make him a wanted commodity in free agency when March rolls around.
The Vikings could opt to keep him for another season, or they could pivot and select a quarterback of the future in April’s draft. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens when March 13th rolls around.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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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.