Kirk Cousins Now Has a Path to Fulfill All Those Rumors
Dustin Baker
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On Wednesday, reporters asked Kirk Cousins at Minnesota Vikings mandatory minicamp if extension talks were ongoing, and he replied, “I think we’ll probably talk about the contract next March. Until then, just focus on this season and the job to do right now.”
Kirk Cousins Now Has a Path to Fulfill All Those Rumors
And just like that — the mystery ends. Cousins won’t be extended between now and the end of the 2023 regular season unless something rather weird occurs.
What does this mean? Well — simple. Cousins will indeed play out a ‘contract year’ and is scheduled to hit open-market free agency in March, his first such adventure since joining the Vikings in 2018.
While Cousins could certainly rejoin Minnesota for 2024 and beyond — a scenario that will be enhanced if he and the Vikings perform like gangbusters in head coach Kevin O’Connell’s second act — he’s now one step closer to fulfilling rumors that have circulated for 3-4 years.
That is — for the first time ever, Cousins has a realistic path to become a San Francisco 49er.
For the last few offseasons, some media entities have spun the rumor mill, attempting to speak Cousins-to-San-Francisco into existence. The problem? It never happens. Those folks just say it over and over, hoping it will come true because they’re less than enthused about Cousins as the Vikings QB1.
Now, though, because Cousins will enter his age-35 season in 2023 and he is not financially committed to the Vikings for longer than one season, he can outright sign with the 49ers next March.
How would it happen? That’s also simple. The Vikings fire up a decent-but-not-great season in 2023 — much like 2022 — and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah ‘has seen enough’ to end the Cousins era and draft ‘his guy’ next April. In the scenario, Cousins wouldn’t be re-signed, he’d eye his market for an upcoming age-36 season, and maximize his pocketbook — a famous strength of Cousins and his agent.
Meanwhile, for the 49ers to nibble at Cousins’ free agency, it will have meant the Trey Lance | Brock Purdy | Sam Darnold quarterback strategy didn’t quite work in 2023 — and the club needs a durable passer to ‘get them over the top.’ For too long, quarterback injuries have derailed the 49ers Super Bowl dreams.
Cousins is one of the most durable quarterbacks in NFL history.
San Francisco would end the searching-for-the-right-QB malarkey, sign Cousins for about $80-$90 over two years, and voila, the Cousins-49ers relationship officially culminates.
Shanahan said about Cousins in 2021, his former coworker, “To say that my prototypical guy is someone like Kirk Cousins. I mean, that’s just, everyone knows my history with Kirk. We drafted him in the 4th round in Washington.”
“I got to coach him for three games. And then, we were fired, I left, I thought we’d have a chance to get him [in San Francisco] in free agency, and I would have loved to have him in free agency until Jimmy came along the year before. Because I thought we could have won with him, just like Minnesota has,” Shanahan added.
The man loves Cousins — unlike some Vikings fans. And because Cousins, alas, has a Minnesota off-ramp, he can wilfully jaunt to San Francisco, and it won’t involve some whimsical trade theory or trade package.
The path has been cleared.
Former Vikings TE Done for the Year
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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