Vikings QB Kirk Cousins managed to quiet his critics for a week after last week’s upset win over the Saints in the wildcard round of the playoffs, but those critics are back with a vengeance after Cousins and Minnesota went out with a whimper in the team’s divisional round loss to the 49ers on Saturday.
To be sure, the loss did not fall entirely at Cousins’ feet. The Vikings gained just 21 yards on the ground against San Francisco’s stout defensive front, and Cousins was sacked six times. But for a highly-paid player who repeatedly faces questions about his ability to win meaningful games, it was a disappointing performance.
Nonetheless, Cousins is going to be back with the Vikings in 2020, the last year of his current contract. The real question is whether the team will seek to extend its relationship with the 31-year-old signal-caller beyond that.
As Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press points out, Minnesota is currently projected to have the least amount of cap room in the league entering free agency. Cousins will count for $31MM against the team’s cap in 2020, but an extension could lower that number and give the Vikings some much-needed breathing room.
And Cousins did post a career-high QB rating of 107.4 in 2019 while throwing 26 TDs against such six interceptions, so an extension would make plenty of sense. After all, it would be difficult to find a free agent or rookie QB to replicate that type of production.
In the immediate aftermath of elimination, though, Cousins and head coach Mike Zimmer — whose current contract also expires after 2020 — did not want to talk about the future. “I don’t know what [Cousins’] contract situation is, so I’ll worry about that down the road,” Zimmer said.
Cousins, meanwhile, said, “[t]hat’s just not focus right now. My focus is on this game and the playoffs. I certainly love it here and love being a Viking.”
If any team wants him, it will only take a brand new shiny football, or even a used one.
He had a better season than Watson.
Are you drunk?
colts will take him
You do realize this is a team game ? Any feelings about the O line or any other players like the D line or are you only the expert on QB play ?
cousins is an overplayed and under achiever in an offense where he is not effective. they have weapons all over the field in cook, thielen, Diggs, Rudolph, smith and yet they cant score. I don’t get why teams want stefanski as a head coach….I simply would rather trade for Mariota than have cousins
You might literally be the dumbest person alive. Mariota sucks and Cousins was a top 5 qb as far as his rating and td to interception ratio.
I maybe the dumbest person alive but no honest viking fan would tell you they are going anywhere with cousins! overpaid and funny no other team when he was a free agent would pay him what he got! look up the facts
The Jets offered him a bigger contract.
Good job looking up the facts Ben.
Yes they did .
I’m an honest Vikings fan, and I want Cousins as our QB moving forward. No QB on the open market will is better, and no QB in the draft will be better next season. Cousins is our guy. If you blame that loss on Cousins, you are a f-ing mormon and need to go root for a different team.
Moron* ugh
I totally agree with you and if any honest Vikings fans thought you were going to beat that 49er team is as dumb as the guy who wants Marriota over Cousins
What about Tom Brady
Burrow will likely run circles around Cousins if I’m that same offense
Cousins will almost always lose the big game. The higher the pressure, the worse he plays. Have a look at the Seahawks at Green Bay game for what good quarterback play looks like. Wilson and Rodgers are on the sidelines talking to their teammates, pumping them up, taking their team down the field on comeback or winning drives multiple times in the same game. Same deal with Patrick Mahomes down 24-0 to Houston.
Deshaun Watson didn’t look like much of a leader with a defeated look on his face from 24-14 on. Lamar Jackson just ran around swearing and throwing tantrums during the schooling which Mike Vrabel handed them on Saturday. So Cousins isn’t the only QB who needs leadership classes.
But Cousins is definitely the class dunce, whatever regular season numbers he logs against sub-500 teams. Just call them the lost Cousins years.
Seems like we all know the Facts except You !!
Thank you !
How is Cousins “over played”. He is a starting QB. Should they make him a part timer?
I’m gonna assume he meant “overpaid”
Thank you for translating.
Lmfao wowww
Keep him one more year and draft Fromm
Agree on the concept. Keep him one more year, and draft a young guy
Fromm is not an NFL QB
In other words he will be a bust
I am not a Vikings fan and Kirk Cousins is surely not great. However, they can win with him. But, the fact is the primary weakness that was exposed by both the Packers and Niners was the offensive line. They can’t pass block and can’t run block consistently. Look at the day Dalvin Cook had yesterday. He is a complete stud at RB and SF just took him away.
The O line has been a problem for a while now.
SF is simply a better team. Cousins is a solid QB. I am sure if Minn don’t want him there would be a few happy teams that would take him.
Take him please we need a mobile QB not someone who goes into a fetal position every time they get with in 5 feet of him. I’ve been a Vikings fan since 1982 it’s time to win a dam super bowl,we need to work on our offensive line through free agency,and then draft a couple of defensive backs and a dam mobile QB
exactly my point
exactly my point furthermore if thielen didn’t make an impossible catch they wouldn’t have advanced and if Diggs didnt make a similar fantastic catch they wouldn’t have scored against sf!
I love this thought process. Essentially what you are saying is:
“Instead of fixing the offensive line and actually get 5 people that can hold a block more than half a second, we need to get a mobile QB who can run for his life before getting taken down outside the pocket instead of a QB who gets sacked inside the pocket. It’s the QB’s fault that the offensive line cant block, and a mobile QB can at least take the snap and immediately run out of the pocket, a pocket that SHOULD hold up long enough for a QB to find an open receiver.”
Do you see how stupid that sounds? Because that’s you.
What about Cam Newton
I really can’t recall a QB who constantly throws the ball no more than 5 yards. Whether that was play calling or being afraid to look further than 7 yards down the field. I don’t know.
Because our offensive line doesn’t give him time to throw,and he’s not mobile,we really need to address the O line either in free agency or the draft especially on the left side
And Cousins did post a career-high QB rating of 107.4 in 2019 while throwing 26 TDs against such six interceptions, so an extension would make plenty of sense. After all, it would be difficult to find a free agent or rookie QB to replicate that type of production.
Uh, Sam Bradford would like you to know he has a passer rating with the Vikings just 2 points less than Kirk and would cost a lot less.
He doesn’t cost a whole lot less when you consider how much time he’ll spend on injured reserve most seasons…
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!
Extension for Cousins.
His stats may look good, but the ONLY STAT that matters is getting to the Super Bowl. He’s NOT a Winner !
He is a “system” QB who is unable to improvise when the called play breaks down. Let him walk after 2020, cause at his current contract he is untradeable.