People who fail to learn from yesterday's mistakes will repeat them. This is why I cannot get behind the idea of Kirk Cousins being traded back to his former team in the Minnesota Vikings. He did not want to have his potential replacement backing him up in Minneapolis, so he left on his own accord in free agency for the Atlanta Falcons. They in turn drafted his immediate successor in Michael Penix Jr.
While Cousins has always been a team-first guy throughout his decade-plus NFL career out of Michigan State, I cannot say he is the most willing of mentors. I mean, he will do it, but only in the constructs of what his job entails. He views himself as a starter, which is why he may not be for long in Flowery Branch. This is why I simply cannot get behind the idea of him going back to the Vikings at all.
This is because they have the idea of J.J. McCarthy under center already. I just think he is the slightly improved version of Zach Wilson, but the next best prototype of a bad model will be coming down the pipeline next year in Penn State's Drew Allar. What I am getting at is these players are all cut from the same cloth of a shirt I was not all that interested in wearing. Again, another reason not to go there...
While Cousins could beat out McCarthy, I cannot possibly think of a worst place for him to ever go to.
Minnesota Vikings should be the last place Kirk Cousins is traded to
As a Falcons fan who wants Cousins off his hopelessly dysfunctional NFL team of choice, I am absolutely thrilled that Minnesota is still technically in the race for him. Their inability to fully say no and state that McCarthy is their guy is driving up the price for Cousins on the trade market. There are three teams with interest in him in the Vikings, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While I understand fully that Cousins had some of his best years in the NFL starring for the Vikings, he got his ass kicked by Sam Darnold in his return to Minneapolis last year. The fans booed him relentlessly, hoping with every fiber of their being that McCarthy is the second coming of Fran Tarkenton. In theory, Cousins can help refine the bucking bronco that is McCarthy, but why bother?
I find it infinitely more likely that Cousins would be a willing mentor to someone like Jaxson Dart coming out of Ole Miss. This is because their games eerily pattern each other. They are cut from the same cloth that has made Baker Mayfield so special. They play with a bit of an edge, knowing that their talent and limited athleticism can only get them so far. McCarthy has skills Cousins does not.
Above all else, Cousins would have to waive his no-trade clause to go back to Minnesota anyway.