The Vikings are looking to reset their cap, and their quarterback could end up being a casualty. According to Jason La Canfora (via Twitter), the Vikings are “eager to move big contracts,” and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they end up moving on from Kirk Cousins.
With the Vikings changing regimes, the status of their four-year starting quarterback has understandably come up. Cousins carries the NFL’s third-highest 2022 cap hit at $45MM, and he’s going into a contract year. If the organization is truly looking to reset their books, it’d make sense to move on from the veteran QB. It would help the Vikings a bit if Cousins agreed to another extension, which would allow the team to reduce his 2022 cap hit. However, Cousins’ camp hasn’t been receptive to that idea.
La Canfora also mentions wideout Adam Thielen, linebacker Eric Kendricks, defensive tackle Michael Pierce, and even running back Dalvin Cook as sizable cap hits that the organization could look to move on from. These four players and Cousins represent five of the team’s seven highest cap hits, joining defensive end Danielle Hunter and safety Harrison Smith.
The Vikings entered the offseason with one of the worst cap situations in the NFL, so it’s not surprising that the team is looking to move around some money. Per OverTheCap.com, the Vikings are currently $15MM over the cap, so moves are certainly coming.
Trade Danielle Hunter to the Jets!! Swap the #10 & #12, Jets add a 3rd.
Lol. Maybe for the 1st and 3rd. Not for moving up two spots and a 3rd.
1st , 3rd AND swap the #10 and #12 possibly.
You’re not getting that for a guy who is 28 this year and has that big cap hit. That’s an unrealistic ask.
His cap hit next year is $8.6 million, and in 2024 it’s $2.24 million. His deal was designed for an extension that would lower his 2022 cap hit.
The real question now is how much more the Vikes can get for him than the Bears got for Mack. And that probably doesn’t include a #1.
Dalvin Tomlinson should be on this list as well if there’s no talks on extensions going on.
He’s in the final year of a 2 year 21 mill contract.
His cap hit this year is 7.5 mill.
If they trade him after June 1st his dead cap drops from 10 mill to 2.5 mill.
When you’re 15M over, dropping a dude for 5M in savings isn’t the thing to do. His dead cap drops to 2.5M for 2022…the other 7.5 goes to 2023. So cutting him rather than letting his contract run out really doesn’t make sense.
Trade. Not cut. Trading a guy has different cap impacts than cutting him.
There’s other ways to get under than just cutting guys.
You even suggested trading Hunter rather than cutting him in your other post.
So you are well aware of trading vs cutting cap impacts.
Okay so go look at Spotrac, it’s your friend. Trading or cutting him has the same result. It is pretty cut and dry. If you do anything post-June 1 it only pushes the other dead money to the following season. It’s the only benefit. That dead money does not disappear. They either take a 10M dead cap hit OR wait until June-1 and cut or trade him but it’s 5M in relief this season while pushing 7.5M in dead money to next season. That’s all it does. It does not behoove them to save 5M and have to cut other guys when you’re 15M over.
If you’re going to blow the whole thing up any expensive pieces worth anything should be moved. Especially ones on 1 year deals like Tomlinson.
You don’t get rid of Cousins or Cook and be like oh we good now superbowl here we come.
If they’re trading/cutting Cousins everything with a decent price tag should have a for sale sign.
Get below the cap by trading Hunter unless you really believe you’re a good draft away from contending. I don’t think they are and save 18M on the cap. He will be 28 in October so he still has value. If someone offers a 2 or you can package him to land a 1 then pull the trigger and build rather than dumping multiple talented players.
I think Cousins sends up in Pittsburgh or Carolina
He’ll want to go to a team with good stability at the coaching position, he gets dropped he’ll end up in Pittsburgh or don’t be surprised if Indy tries to entice him
Dropped? Well, he isn’t getting cut, that’s $45M cap hit. Traded, Vikes take on $10M cap hit (prorated signing bonus), receiving team takes on $35M in contract for 1 year.
No one cares what he “wants”; he doesn’t have a NTA, he’ll go where he’s traded to.
It seems every off season Viking players are asked to have their contracts restructured or take a pay cut to accommodate the cap hit created by Cousins. That would be fine if Kirk was actually leading the team to playoff wins but there are cheaper options for achieving a .500 record.
If Minny extends him again, it’s their own fault. Kirk is a decent fantasy QB. He’ll get you stats, just don’t count on him for real life W’s.
You do realize that if the Vikings not had the worst defense in ‘21 that they could’ve had 11-12 wins right?
Finally! Yes, correct! People talk about him being a stat qb only. I’m sure the same dolts say football is the ultimate team sport. There is more to it than what ESPN tells you.
You do realize that Kirk’s W-L record over his career is 59-59-2. Average at best.
And you realize this year’s Super Bowl winning QB has an 86-95-1 career record?
And still manages to have a better record against winning teams than Kirk Cousins.
Judge a QB on his passer rating and not just on his Won Loss record. Stafford is the perfect example. Cousins much like Stafford this past year just needs the right team around him
People stick with narratives when they don’t know any better. Literally the knock on Stafford regardless of his supporting cast was you couldn’t win with him. Low and behold, SB winner.
Cousins might not get you that but Cousins wasn’t what hampered the Vikings by a long shot. 350 yards, 2 TDs in their first game and it was an L because the defense couldn’t stop anyone. They lose the 2nd game by the kicker missing a gimme. The offense scores 33 points and no turnovers by cousins….still an L. Dalvin Cook goes out in game 4, the offense stalls. Yeah part of that is on Cousins but no one is mistaking the offense for being loaded. 24-10 lead against Baltimore turns into a 31-24 deficit that he leads them back to a tie. And the defense allows Baltimore to drive back and score a game winning FG in OT.
This was literally their season.
Cousins ranked top 10 in pass yards, TDs, TD%, second lowest INT% behind Rodgers, top 10 in YPA, QB rating, sack %. It’s a narrative people don’t think out because they’re trying to explain away how he isn’t good despite every number saying otherwise.
I agree with everything you stated. My problem is his contract, do I fault Cousins for this? Absolutely not. If someone were to offer me that kind of money, I’d take it as well.
I like Cousins on the field numbers, I don’t like his contract number.
Please name the veteran QB’s who would have saved the Vikings a lot of money and played even close to Kirk’s level. Derek Carr, maybe, though his cap hits were higher than Cousins’ in 2018 and 2020 (after Kirk’s extension), and the Carr/Mariota pairing cost the Raiders over $30 mil in 2020. But how likely was Carr to be traded in 2018, and what would have been the price?
Aside from drafting Lamar Jackson in 2018 (wasn’t going to happen unless either Bridgewater or Keenum was also re-signed, and doing so wipes out most of the savings) or Mac Jones in 2021 (they’d have also gone out and get a bridge QB, but probably cheap enough to make a real difference, unlike Teddy or Case), the Vikes weren’t going to save so much money that it would have made much difference in roster building. Legit veteran starting QB’s ain’t cheap!
Kirk is also a 500 QB w/ over a decade in the league. But I guess he’s not responsible for any of those L’s right?
He’s probably responsible for a fair number of the losses against winning teams, but…
His defenses and running games in Washington were mediocre in 2015-2017, and the OL and receiving corps got a lot worse in 2017, too.
He’s never had a good offensive line in Minnesota, has had bad defenses two years in a row, and the running game collapsed in 2018 thanks to terrible play calling. When he had a good D, running game and pass catchers in 2019, though he was still saddled with a below-average OL, he finished the season with a 10-5 record and won a playoff game on the road against a heavily favored opponent. If he’d had an actually good OL in 2019, he probably goes 12-4 and the Vikes are fighting for a higher seed in the playoffs.
IT’S THE DEFENSE NOT THE OFFENSE THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH MINNESOTA
Well, yeah, when you have no money to spend on it, it isn’t going to be good.
I would think that no team would want Kirk as their starter. But then again, DC thinks Wentz is the answer! That was after they thought Fitz was the answer last year.
Ironically Kirk wasn’t the answer in DC either
No QB is the answer in DC.
It is options vs answer? What available options are better? Is he the answer? Probably not, but he is one of the better available options. The right team and coach can probably win with him, not because of him.
Not like the team is gonna be winning championships anyways. Let’s move on.
The Vikings already had the worst defense this past year, if they move on from Cousins they’re looking at 12-13 losses in ‘22
Fisher
12-13 losses in 2022 May not be the worst thing in the world. They may actually get the QB of the future since this year does not have a stud. I have been watching too many years we’re they have been good enough to be good. But not good enough to be great. It would be nice to see them figure out a way for them to be great for once.
The Colts would seem like an obvious spot given their amount of cap space, but Wentz not being vaccinated was a contentious issue so I can’t see them signing another unvaccinated QB. (To be clear this is not a statement of any sort on the vaccine, just the reality of the Colts situation)
The NFL already dropped all Covid 19 protocols. Not much to worry about as far as that goes.
Be amazing to get Cousins out of town.
Rebuild quickly with draft capital and cap room.
Except all of his money is guaranteed so you’d rather they pay 45M for a guy to not play?
If he’s traded only costs $10M against the cap vs $45M