Kirk Cousins
Sometime in the next six weeks — before the NFL draft — Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins will be extended, traded, or nominated to play out the final year of his contract.
Those are the three possibilities.
Betting money suggests Cousins will remain the Vikings QB1 as the new leadership regime of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell is ultra-complimentary of the 33-year-old. However, Cousins and his agent are business savvy, always maximizing their cash with the next contract. If Cousins has a larger contractual number in mind than Adofo-Mensah, he could indeed be traded.
And this is what life without Cousins would like.
The Vikings trade Cousins, grabbing draft capital from someone like the Denver Broncos or Cleveland Browns. Hopefully for Adofo-Mensah’s sake, it’s a 1st-Rounder. The Vikings could then use their 12th overall pick on a rookie quarterback like Malik Willis, Matt Corral, or Kenny Pickett.
And Minnesota would cast the youngster off onto the wolves, creating a trial-by-fire agenda. Men like Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen were ready relatively early on — why not the Vikings rookie?
Of course, there would be significant risk with this plan. The rookie could play like Christian Ponder. But those are the stakes whenever a team drafts a quarterback in the 1st Round.
Regardless, start the rookie on Day One. That’s the first peek at life after Cousins.
Cousins is traded, the team drafts a Willis, Corral, or Pickett — and pairs him a patchover quarterback. This is often the preferred method with a rookie quarterback, usually ending up with teams dialing Tyrod Taylor on the telephone.
Some other team employs Cousins while Minnesota signs Marcus Mariota, Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum, or Cam Newton. That man is never considered the savior, instead place-holding for the Willis, Corral, or Pickett.
This strategy would blend Vikings ownership’s desire to “be competitive” in 2022 as the journeyman signal-caller should provide competence.
But everyone in the world knows the Mariota, Bridgewater, Keenum, or Newton is one injury away from handing the keys to the rookie.
Think Matt Cassell into Teddy Bridgewater.
Perhaps the least likely scenario, Cousins is traded, the Vikings stockpile draft picks, refuse to select a quarterback amid a weak draft class — and start Kellen Mond in September.
Mike Zimmer didn’t care for Mond’s skillset, but that doesn’t mean Kevin O’Connell feels the same way. Although this method directly clashes with the “let’s be competitive in 2022” declaration by the Wilfs, it would ease the salary cap burden and enable the 3rd-Rounder-from-2021 to get a crack at the bright lights.
The ceiling with Mond at the helm would likely be mediocrity — he’s considered very raw — but Minnesota has settled for mediocrity in 2020 and 2021. What’s one more season as the team plots for the 2023 NFL Draft quarterback class?
Mond as QB1 probably won’t happen, but it is a life-after-Cousins option.
Listen — for some reason or another, Las Vegas believes Russell Wilson is the second-most-likely man to quarterback the Vikings in 2022.
Behind Cousins, who obviously has the best odds, it’s Wilson for the Vikings at a +550 moneyline.
If not Wilson, the Vikings could trade Cousins for Deshaun Watson or Kyler Murray, assuming either of those two men actually hit the open trade market.
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Minnesota would be the “giver” in the deal, allocating Cousins and more draft capital in the trade.
This outcome is slightly more likely than Mond as QB1 in September, but on the whole, it is unlikely for Seattle to part ways with Wilson, the Cardinals for Murray, or the Vikings wanting anything to do with Watson’s malarkey.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. His YouTube Channel, VikesNow, debuts in March 2022. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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