Vikings already should be thinking about who replaces Kirk Cousins
After a narrow Week 1 loss, the Minnesota Vikings must consider who will replace quarterback Kirk Cousins in 2023 — or sooner.
In 2018, the Minnesota Vikings entrusted the future of their franchise in Kirk Cousins‘ football-wielding hands, awarding him a historic contract that featured “the most fully guaranteed money in NFL history.”
Three seasons later, Cousins hasn’t lived up to his lofty NFL expectations: he hasn’t won more than 10 games in a season, posting a losing 7-9 record last year. And 2021 starts off even worse: the Vikings lost in an overtime battle to the Cincinnati Bengals, a notoriously losing franchise.
In theory, Cousins’ 351 passing yards and two passing touchdowns against the Bengals should be enough to justify his stay in Minnesota, but it’s not enough to justify his initial $84 million contract and his $66 million extension signed this spring.
If Minnesota wants to win ball games, it may be time to move on from the Kirk Cousins project and begin considering Cousins’ replacement.
That game literally featured just about everything you could imagine. Penalties, pressure, poor execution in key spots (excluding special teams) and fourth and a centimeter.
— Daniel House (@DanielHouseNFL) September 12, 2021
The #Vikings were backed up all day and trying to overcome mistakes.
Defector writer Drew Magary detailed why, despite his passing stats, Cousins is an overpaid disappoint to the Vikings fandom:
"“You know that Kirk’s teammates hate his guts. You know that Kirk is why Stefon Diggs wanted out of here. You know that, when the Vikings desperately need to score, Kirk will respond by engineering the fastest three-and-out you’ve ever seen and actually ADD time to the clock in the process. You know that there will be a healthy stretch in the middle of any season where Kirk is the worst quarterback in football. You know that no serious football fan ever wants to remember Kirk’s playing days.”"
In Week 1, Cousins’ arm amounted to little when he threw for 119 more yards, 23 more passing attempts and 17 more completions just to lose in the final seconds of the game.
With Kellen Mond, a “third-round developmental rookie” drafted earlier this year, the Vikings have a chance to develop the young quarterback as they move away from Cousins.
While it’s unlikely that any team would be willing to take Cousins off their hands, the Vikings should explore their quarterback options long before the 2023 season.