The Carolina Panthers are reportedly laughing off any notion that they ever made a phone call to the Minnesota Vikings inquiring about the availability of quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Per The Charlotte Observer’s Jonathan Alexander, there are at least two sources claiming that alleged phone call never happened.
Alexander writes:
“The coaching staff and front office were actually in a meeting when they heard the news and laughed it off.”
According to Alexander, the Panthers weren’t in any position to absorb the massive $45 million salary cap hit associated with Cousins’ contract in 2022. It’s the third-highest hit among all quarterbacks in the NFL.
At the very least, it was laughable to the Panthers.
Things aren’t so different for the Vikings right now, either, with the team desperately hoping to come to some kind of a team-friendly agreement with Cousins, who is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
The hope is that such an agreement would keep the 33-year-old quarterback in Minnesota, while also providing much-needed cap relief.
But Cousins reportedly hasn’t shown any interest in taking a pay cut to stay with the Vikings. If anything, the response from the Panthers just highlights the precarious situation Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah finds himself in when dealing with this contract in particular. The fact that Cousins threw for 4,221 yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions isn’t making the decision any easier.
There’s no questioning the fact that he’s a really good quarterback, but a cap-strapped team isn’t looking to throw money around like it’s a Fat Joe music video for somebody that’s just good.
It’s hard to make sense of that kind of accommodation for somebody who’s clearly not elite.
