Kirk Cousins is Earning a Robust Contract Extension
During the offseason, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made the controversial decision to keep Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. Not everyone agrees that #8 – who loves bottomless root beers – ought to be the man under center. Fan opinions aside, Adofo-Mensah had to make the ultimate decision since his QB was carrying a massive cap hit. The decision was either to take on a humongous dead cap number, work with the year remaining on the deal, or agree on an extension for Kirk Cousins.
As we all know, Adofo-Mensah chose the final option. In so doing, the GM got Cousins’ 2022 cap number down a touch more than $31.4 million in 2022. Next year, that number will rise to $36.25 million. The 2024 budget is carrying $12.5 million in dead money since Minnesota relied on a void year to get the cap numbers down.
What we’ve seen in 2022 has been some impressive football. Minnesota’s quarterback is up to 6 game-winning drives, 2 more than any other season in his career. He hasn’t always had the best stats, but he has been playing his best when his team needs him. Cousins, in short, has been excellent.
The end result is a scenario where a Kirk Cousins extension is looking increasingly likely.
Next year’s cap is looking really tight. In fact, the current projection has Minnesota with nearly $5 million over the yearly budget. Adofo-Mensah will need to make some difficult decisions when it comes to well-paid veterans like Eric Kendricks, Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, and Harrison Smith.
Given that reality, one wonders if one of the first moves will be to gain some financial relief by redoing the Cousins deal.
Forced to guess, I’d say Minnesota’s leadership is quite pleased with how things are going between their new HC and QB. A 9-2 record is elite, the kind of win/loss ratio that beckons one to wonder if this year really could be the year. Obviously, much of the season remains and Vikings fans are prone to wondering about doomsday scenarios, so it’d be unwise to assume that things will definitively end in a positive manner.
The reality, though, is that all we have is the present and the past. We don’t know what will occur in the future (even if team history instructs us to expect heartbreak). Right now, the team looks excellent, and a major reason why is the quarterback. One has to think that there have been at least been some discussions about a Kirk Cousins extension.
An extension has the capacity to free a bit more than $23 million in cap space. That’s a robust amount, one that would instantly give Adofo-Mensah the ability to sign both internal and external free agents.
In some ways, the offseason feels like a long way away. Nevertheless, we can be sure that the Vikings are already planning for how they’ll proceed. They have a full understanding of what their future finances will look like and what kind of options they have to create some financial relief. Plus, we shouldn’t forget that the majority of the season has occurred. We’re getting closer and closer to 2023, folks.
Given how well he has played, a Kirk Cousins extension may be among the team’s priorities.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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