Kirk Cousins, Rumor Machine
K. Joudry
|
Kirk Cousins is merely a part-time football player. It’s a little-known fact that Kirk Cousins’ full-time job is to lead the purple rumor mill.
Earlier this week, Josh Frey published a piece linking Cousins with the Eagles. It blew up. Vikings fans, quite evidently, have an appetite for the Cousins chatter.
Just look around the internet for a minute and you’ll see that all kinds of people put forth all kinds of speculation and rumor for Kirk Cousins. PFF had the earlier trade speculation. The Athletic joined the fun, trying to break down what Minnesota could get in return. Some believe that the team’s decision to move on from Zimmer will finally unlock Cousins’ full potential. Deion Sanders recently suggested that Minnesota’s QB1 is a main reason why the coach was fired. I’ve joined the pandemonium (a word, if I’m not mistaken, that first arises in John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost), arguing that Captain Kirk needs to slash his salary to stay in town.
Upon taking a moment to take this all in, one could reasonably ask: why all the fuss? The easy answer is that it’s because Cousins is a polarizing player, but that doesn’t get to the heart of the issue. Why is he a polarizing player? That’s an entirely different, far more complicated question.
From my perspective, the answer is (at the very least) twofold. He’s a QB and he gets paid a ton. Those are both objective facts. Whether he deserves to be Minnesota’s QB and whether he deserves the money he is making are subjective, so therein lies the kindling to get the fire going.
The incoming GM will surely have to make a difficult decision when it comes to the team’s QB1. It could end up being a no-win scenario. Cousins can stay on his current deal and gobble up a remarkable amount of the salary cap. He can be extended – quite possibly the most sensible solution – but that’s a move that won’t fit every HC, nor will it delight everyone in the fanbase. Finally, Cousins could be traded. Anything less than significant draft capital (i.e. a first rounder) will lead to plenty of criticism, though.
Until a solution is reached, Kirk Cousins will continue to be the rumor machine.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”940985″ player=”26281″ title=”WATCH%20Team%20owner’s%20influence%20causing%20more%20harm%20than%20good” duration=”124″ description=”Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi joins Carolyn Manno to discuss the recent wave of NFL head coach firings, he also discusses what teams should look for in a head coach, and previews the upcoming NFL Wild Card games.” uploaddate=”2022-01-15″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/snapshot/940938_s_1642205347188.png” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/streaming/940938/940938.m3u8″]