Kirk Cousins Has No Intention of Leaving the Vikings in 2024
As soon as the Minnesota Vikings’ 2023 season ends — hopefully in late January or February for their sake — all focus will turn to the quarterback position for one of the loudest quarterback debates in franchise history.
Kirk Cousins Has No Intention of Leaving the Vikings in 2024
That’s the price to be paid when the consistent QB1 is injured and an impending free agent, the guy who took over the QB1 job thereafter is electric, and the front office probably wants a “quarterback of their own” from the NFL draft at some point.
Indeed, fans should fasten seatbelts for Kirk Cousins, Josh Dobbs, Jaren Hall, and rookie quarterback debates because they’re coming.
And on Friday, just two days before the Vikings take on the Denver Broncos in Week 11, Cousins made it abundantly clear regarding his intentions for free agency. In short, he doesn’t even want to sniff the open market.
“My desire is to be a Viking, retire a Viking, and finish my career here,” Cousins told the Minneapolis radio station KFAN.
That message is sharply on-brand for the 35-year-old, as Cousins has stated for a few years this exact plan. Whenever the topic of his next contract or a trade surfaces, he remains faithful to retiring with the Vikings if the decision is up to him and is even irked a bit at any notion he could be traded.
In October, before Cousins’ season-ending Achilles tear, NFL insider Jay Glazer claimed Minnesota wanted Cousins back in 2024 and beyond. He said on The Rich Eisen Show, “I think the Vikings want him back. At least in camp they did. I haven’t been back there since camp, but I think they wanted him back then.”
It’s worth noting, too, that the Glazer commentary occurred while the Vikings were losing and before Dobbs had arrived anywhere near the roster.
After Cousins’ injury, Vikings’ head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Halloween, “Kirk Cousins is going to be healthy again. I know he’s going to be a free agent after this season, but Kirk knows how I feel about him, and that will be something, you know, that hopefully will work itself out.”
So, again, before Dobbs, the club was very much committed, at least in spirit, to re-signing Cousins in the offseason. That means there was initial interest in re-signing Cousins, per O’Connell’s words, as recently as a few weeks ago. Then on Friday, Cousins laid it out for KFAN that he doesn’t want to leave.
Before too long, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will have a mammoth decision involving the club’s future at the sport’s most important position. At the very least, Cousins’ personal desire to return clarifies one side of the equation.
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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