Should he stay or should he go?
The Minnesota Vikings signed Kirk Cousins to a big, fully guaranteed contract during the 2018 offseason. One of the interesting things about the signing was that it came about two months after the Vikings played in the NFC Championship game. Journeyman quarterback Case Keenum navigated the team on a fun wave of momentum to within a game of the Super Bowl. Did the Vikings really need an expensive “franchise” quarterback to contend for a league championship? I suppose that was the question then head coach Mike Zimmer asked then general manager Rick Spielman at the time. The coach favored a strong defense attached to a solid running offense. The quarterback just had to avoid the mistakes that lose games. The general manager surely looked at the usual champions and contenders and saw a league dominated by high-end quarterbacks. If you want to contend, you had to have a “franchise” quarterback. If you didn’t have one, you had to get one.
The Vikings haven’t been back to the NFC Championship season since that fun 2017 season.
Cousins was signed to lead the Vikings to a championship. Since his 2018 signing, they have made the playoffs twice (2019 and 2021) and won one playoff game. That lack of consistent success got Zimmer and Spielman fired. While Cousins has been consistently very good to great, his play hasn’t translated into consistent wins. That isn’t all on him. The defense faded fast from the highs of Zimmer’s prime days. It was horrible in 2021. The running game hasn’t been very efficient for a couple seasons. All of that is why there is a Cousins question today. He’s a very good quarterback. He’s often a great quarterback. When things are going well, he throws the ball as well as any quarterback in the league. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Therein lies the problem with Cousins. Everything around him often needs to be clicking for him to be clicking. He doesn’t always play through the difficulties that arise in every game. In the six years that Cousins has been in Minnesota, the Vikings haven’t come close to winning a Super Bowl. They’re best showing was getting dismantled in the divisional round. There’s been many fun moments but there haven’t been the great wins that he was signed to bring.
The Vikings are at a fork in the road. Kirk Cousins is scheduled to be a free agent this offseason. Team and player have expressed an interest in a re-signing. Team and player also have expectations the other might not accept. The Vikings are looking more at a short term relationship. Cousins is looking for the usual security. He says that the structure of the deal is more important than the dollars. That structure likely includes the usual guaranteed deal and perhaps guarantees into a third year. The Vikings likely aren’t looking at that sort of duration or those sorts of guarantees. The ideal quarterback situation for the Vikings is probably Cousins in the building for, at most, two years as a rookie readies himself to take over. I believe that Cousins is realistic enough and confident enough that he won’t be swayed by a youngster looking over his shoulder. I’m certain that he’ll do everything he can to help that youngster. I’m also certain that Cousins believes that he’s earned and deserves a contract structured to his liking. If neither team or player budges, I don’t see the Vikings-Cousins relationship continuing. Is that for the best? Who knows? It’s difficult to say goodbye to a talented quarterback.
The Vikings have been looking for a franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season. 45 years. That’s a long time. Too long. There have been so many frustrations along the way. Tommy Kramer was drafted to be the next one while Tarkenton was still on the team. Injuries riddled Kramer’s career. As soon as he was about to take off he was helped off the field. Daunte Culpepper was drafted to be the team’s franchise quarterback. He was on his way until a knee injury ended his time in Minnesota. Teddy Bridgewater showed promise until his knee exploded before the 2016 season. The great, fun seasons of 1998, 2009, and 2017 were quarterbacked by old-timers Randall Cunningham and Brett Favre and journeyman Case Keenum. The Vikings have lived a frustrating and strange quarterback life since Tarkenton retired.
Should he stay or should he go? Since the end of the season, I’ve flipped daily on my answer to this big question. I really like Kirk Cousins. When things are clicking, he’s a lot of fun. I also understand his limitations. He has not brought the consistent success he was signed and then re-signed to bring. As we creep closer to the start of the league year and free agency, I flip less often on the question. I’m finally starting to believe that it’s time to move on. With or without Cousins on the roster, this year is the year to aggressively find the team’s next quarterback. Who that quarterback should be is a topic that will rage until the early moments of the 2024 NFL Draft. I really like Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy or a very aggressive move to secure LSU’s Jayden Daniels or North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
If this offseason marks the end of the Kirk Cousins era, I will remember fondly his six years in Minnesota. He was fun on and off the field.
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