Weird Tweet Speculates Kirk Cousins to SF for 3rd Overall Pick
Dustin Baker
|
The Minnesota Vikings rumors involving quarterback Kirk Cousins and the San Francisco 49ers were strangled on March 26th, 2021, when the Miami Dolphins traded back in the draft with San Francisco for nine draft spots of capital. The 49ers surrendered a biblical package to skip ahead nine places, sending a 12th overall pick this year, a 3rd-Round compensatory pick this year, and 1st-Round picks in both 2022 and 2023 to Miami.
It was quite the bombshell for March news.
The 49ers were linked to the Vikings via Kirk Cousins trade talks, seemingly from the moment that Matthew Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Anonymous general managers predicted colossal quarterback change this offseason, so Cousins’ name entered the arena.
Mainly due to tweets like this:
On the same day, this one followed the Massey tweet:
It was surmised that the Cousins-49ers madness was silenced after the 49ers-Dolphins deal, but to an extent, that changed again on Friday because of Benjamin Solak of The Draft Network.
Solak’s account is not a troll farm, so it is unclear if this tweet is sarcastic or designed for tomfoolery. Not long ago — particularly when Cousins was struggling a bit last autumn — many folks thought the Vikings would have to unload assets just to get rid of Cousins if that was the organization’s mindset. Cousins’ contract is monetarily chunky, and when he has a bad game, gobs of fans want him cut or traded. Think of this arrangement — unloading Cousins at his lowest performance point — as similar to the Brock Osweiler situation. The Cleveland Browns had to “do the Houston Texans a favor” for absorbing his monstrous contract in 2017 by tossing in a 2nd-Round pick to sweeten the deal.
Evidently, however, we’re past all of that anti-Cousins hubbub. Now — per Solak, if he’s serious — the dialogue is that San Francisco may send its 3rd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to Minnesota for Cousins. It is not known what other fragments of the deal would be necessary for fruition. Surely, the barter would not involve Cousins for the 3rd pick straight up.
If it did, the Vikings would pounce on that doozy instantaneously. While general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer are outwardly committed to Cousins, the 3rd pick would allow the team to slash its salary cap worries by dozens of millions of dollars — for five years of a Justin Fields or Trey Lance at a cheap sum.
For more context, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan affirmed his ardor for Cousins a week ago.
Shanahan flat-out acknowledged that he wanted Cousins prior to 2017 when Garoppolo joined the 49ers. In all likelihood, that probably means Shanahan has been fascinated with Cousins all along. Perhaps even making the phone to Rick Spielman this offseason to ask about Cousins’ trade price tag.
But this 3rd-overall-pick stuff is bombastic.
If Solak is right, that would mean the 49ers traded three 1st-Round picks and a 3rd Rounder for Cousins. That’s lunacy.
Should the Vikings explore any sort of signal-caller in April’s draft, it would likely be because a quarterback fell to them unexpectedly and organically at the 14th pick. Consider this the best player available conundrum. Or — Spielman could find a later-round prospect like Kyle Trask, Jamie Newman, or Kellen Mond (Mond is the guy that every team seeking a late-round-seeking team thinks they will get — well, the fans of that team anyway).
Too, the Vikings have Nate Stanley and Jake Browning on the roster.