Dec 31, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) looks on before the game against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. Cousins is not playing due to injury. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.
After six seasons, the Minnesota Vikings cut ties with Kirk Cousins in March, and the 35-year-old promptly signed with the Atlanta Falcons.
Cousins will now lead the Falcons on a four-year, $180 million contract, hoping to keep rookie passer Michael Penix Jr. at bay, the man shockingly drafted by Atlanta in April’s draft.
After Cousins’ exit, Minnesota drafted Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick. And according to Cousins, that never would’ve happened if he stayed in the Twin Cities.
“I don’t think they were ready to go there yet in March. I think the reality is just that they wanted to give themselves that flexibility,” Cousins told the Scoop City podcast this week. “And I remember Kevin [O’Connell]’s words, which I’m not going to hold them to, were, ‘Hey, if we sign you back, I would think it’s very unlikely that we would draft somebody.’ It was something to that effect. But I also know in the league things change.”
Of course, Cousins’ commentary on an after-the-fact podcast is mostly irrelevant — he works in Atlanta, and McCarthy is in line to eventually take over Minnesota’s QB1 job.
It’s just that no one knew until this week that Minnesota’s quarterback plan involved more Cousins — and only Cousins.
Cousins also mentioned short-term deals as why he decided against a seventh season in purple. “I just felt it had been — and was going to be — basically one year, one year, one year,” he told Dianna Russini. “I felt like, ‘Yeah, maybe I do want to play in Minnesota another five or six years, but it’s going to be on one-year contracts.’ That’s the plan they’ve chosen that they wanted to walk. I thought, ‘OK, I don’t really want to do that. I’ll do it if it’s my only option.”
On the other hand, ESPN reporting from earlier this month seemed to contradict Cousins’ latest declaration.
Kevin Seifert wrote about a week ago: “Internally, the Vikings knew they couldn’t make that commitment. Adofo-Mensah wanted what he refers to as ‘optionality.’ There was too much value in a rookie quarterback’s contract, with its low salary cap impact, to overlap it with a long-term veteran deal. His final offer, delivered at the NFL combine at the end of February, was a deal that fully guaranteed Cousins’ 2024 salary and offered partial guarantees for 2025. Cousins, who would later say he wanted to avoid what amounted to a ‘year-to-year’ contract, turned it down.”
So, this is the Vikings version of a whodunit. Either Cousins got the communication wires crossed with O’Connell, or the Vikings’ foremost plan involved keeping Cousins with no contingency plan other than Jaren Hall, a 5th-Rounder from the 2023 NFL Draft.
On the whole, it made sense for Minnesota to draft a quarterback this go-round with or without Cousins on the roster. The 2024 draft class was just too deep at the position to ignore.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.