Kirk Cousins has served as the proverbial punching bag for the Minnesota Vikings’ dire salary cap situation, but no man rope-a-dopes harder than the 33-year-old quarterback that seems to always catch his second wind when it’s time to do business.
Vikings fans, let me introduce you to Mercenary Kirk.
That’s clearly the version of the three-time NFL Pro Bowler Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is going to come face-to-face with when the team approaches him for a restructured contract. The notion that Cousins would rush to give the organization a significant team-friendly discount is laughable at this point.
Look, I get everyone is excited about the Adofo-Mensah era starting in Minnesota, and the high-fiving has been non-stop ever since Kevin O’Connell was officially announced as the team’s next head coach. Naturally, people are expecting Cousins to be wrapped up in those same bubbly feelings. And maybe he is to some degree.
But is it enough for him to completely ignore the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders could potentially pay quarterback Derek Carr $40 million a year?
Not a chance.
As it relates to Derek Carr and the @Raiders, the sense is no proposals have been exchanged yet on an extension. You'll see various numbers being thrown around, but, as I've been reporting, any extension would likely be in the $40m per season range.
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) February 15, 2022
Cousins is an incredibly savvy businessman that has always been willing to bet on himself, along with the fact that teams are always desperate to overpay for a quarterback. It doesn’t matter if he isn’t being lumped into the elite category with Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.
The odds of a team landing one of those caliber players are astronomical at best. And then you have a guy like Cousins, who finished the season with 4,221 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. If given the opportunity, most teams would snatch him up in a heartbeat, and many of them wouldn’t be asking him to take a team-friendly deal to do so, either.
The Vikings are incredibly underrated considering the talent on their roster, but they’ve also missed the playoffs in the last two seasons. This isn’t a team that’s considered to be on the cusp of competing for a Super Bowl. So the “take less money to compete” mentality doesn’t hold nearly as much weight as it would in other situations.
And sure, O’Connell being there likely provides some level of comfort for Cousins. The two get along great, and they have already established a connection from their time together with the Washington Commanders.
But even with O’Connell in Washington, Cousins still leveraged himself out of town at the negotiating table after playing on the franchise tag in back-to-back seasons.
There’s no history to suggest he would take any pay cut from the Vikings, much less a significant one. Of course, you never say never when it comes to player negotiations, but it’s hard to believe Cousins would be willing to fold at the table when he still has a winning hand.
Playing with only one year left on a contract is like another day at the office for Cousins. Whether it’s the Vikings or some other desperate team out there in need of a good quarterback, there’s always somebody willing to step up and spend big money at that position.
Captain Kirk could be Captain Gone when it’s all said and done.
