Getty Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings.
In an introductory press conference on Thursday, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell maintained that Kirk Cousins would be the team’s quarterback for the 2022 season.
“Well, I know he’s already under contract, and I’m excited to coach him,” O’Connell said. “We’ve already started thinking about how we’re going to build those systems for him and our other quarterbacks and really the tremendous skill group that we have, our guys up front. It takes all 11 to move the football on offense, to run it, to throw it, to score points in the red zone. But I’m anticipating Kirk being a part of what we do.”
Despite O’Connell’s “anticipation” to work with Cousins, the veteran quarterback’s future remains uncertain.
Cousins is the third most expensive quarterback for the upcoming season, carrying a $45 million cap hit that will need to be addressed, preferably before free agency opens on March 16.
And if any talks of restructuring his contract arise with the new regime in Minnesota, Cousins is adamant on keeping his stake on the Vikings’ books, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported.
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Schultz: Cousins Has ‘Zero Intention’ of Taking a Pay Cut
Schultz reported Friday, February 18, that Cousins “has zero intention of taking a pay cut.
“I’m told an extension could pay Cousins, 33, around $40M per year,” Schultz tweeted, projecting the potential price range of an extension.
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Kirk Cousins has zero intention of taking a pay cut, sources says. I’m told an extension could pay Cousins, 33, around $40M per year. #Vikings
While that $33 to $40 million range is a reasonable downgrade from his $45 million cap hit for the 2022 season, it’s a sizeable increase from the average per year (APY) he’s seen with the Vikings so far.
Cousins has averaged $28.8 million in earnings over the past four seasons, with his most recent contract extension netting a $33 million APY. Cousins has posted two of the best seasons of his career in 2020 and 2021 only hardens his stance on receiving another lucrative extension in the range of his 2020 extension.
Vikings Insider Expects Cousins to Stay in 2022
Speaking on KFAN on Friday, February 18, Star Tribune beat reporter Ben Goessling weighed the Vikings’ biggest upcoming decisions this offseason, saying negotiations with Cousins will be at the top of the franchise’s list.
O’Connell saying he is “anticipating” Cousins being his quarterbacks draws some speculation surrounding Cousins’ future; however, Goessling noted that after years of deciphering Rick Spielman’s doublespeak, fans are likely looking too deeply into the franchise’s leaderships words when speaking on Cousins.
“I have every expectation he’s going to be here,” Goessling said of Cousins. “We tend to put too much stock into, ‘He used this word and not this one.’ We’re all detoxing from having to do that with Rick for so many years, taking every word and asking what did he really mean.”
While O’Connell and Cousins worked together in Washington in 2017, Goessling doesn’t know whether O’Connell will wed himself to Cousins as the last regime did.
“I think he’s going to be here. Cousins camp believes this (O’Connell’s hiring) is a good thing. The relationship with O’Connell is real; the bond seems to be a real thing. If it’s beyond 2022 that I don’t know,” Goessling said.