So Long and Thank You, Kirk Cousins

After six years with the Minnesota Vikings, the Kirk Cousins era will come to an end. The quarterback chased longer-term security with the Atlanta Falcons. Nothing is officially official until tomorrow afternoon’s start of the new league year but the Vikings will be looking for the next candidate to be their franchise quarterback. It’s something they’ve done often without truly succeeding too many times since Fran Tarkenton retired in 1978. 

Kirk Cousins arrived in Minnesota in 2018. It was only a couple months after Case Keenum miraculously guided the Vikings to the NFC Championship game. Cousins was signed to take the team that next step. He was signed to win a title. That didn’t happen. He quarterbacked the Vikings to two playoff appearances and one playoff win. They didn’t return to the NFC Championship game. In that sense, Cousins and the Vikings didn’t achieve the things that he was signed to bring. What he did bring was consistency. Prior to Cousins, the Vikings had gone about a half dozen years of starting a season with a different quarterback. Due to injuries, inconsistency, and poor play, the Vikings quarterback position had turned into a nauseating revolving door. Cousins put an end to it. He was durable. Injury didn’t take him off the field until a torn Achilles on the spongy Lambeau turf last season. His durability was refreshing and remarkable. Far more often not, his play was terrific. There were occasional “WTF!” moments during his early Minnesota days. When things were clicking for Cousins, he played the position beautifully. His accuracy and timing could rival any of the league’s quarterbacks. He was known for piling up stats with the Washington Redskins. He piled up a bunch of stats in Minnesota. After only six seasons, Cousins trails Fran Tarkenton and Tommy Kramer in most franchise career stats and only Tarkenton in a few others. Cousins arguably ranks as the Vikings second greatest quarterback. 

On and off the field, it may have taken nearly all of his six years but it felt like Kirk Cousins was finally embraced by the majority of Vikings fans. His goofy father image had become endearing. His more recent “Kirko Chainz” bit was celebrated. His part in the Netflix series “Quarterback” revealed the quarterback and man that most probably imagined but didn’t really know. 

The Vikings definitely wanted Kirk Cousins for one more season. They wanted him as a great veteran bridge to a young, rookie quarterback. The Vikings hoped that one more year of something familiar would be more appealing than a longer term deal with something new and unknown. Knowing the negotiating history of Cousins and agent Mike McCartney, larger guarantees and longer-term security were always going to win. So, it’s off to Atlanta for the quarterback and off to drafting a quarterback for the Vikings. 

So Long and Thank You, Kirk Cousins. It’s been fun.