Getty Denver Broncos John Elway looks on.
The Denver Broncos will be active in the trade market for a quarterback this offseason. Aaron Rodgers appears to be the franchise’s top option. There have been plenty of rumors that Rodgers would like to join the Broncos, and many insiders like the Broncos’ odds of pulling a trade for Rodgers off.
Russell Wilson should also be in the mix. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Wilson is interested in “exploring his options”.
However, there is a chance that Rodgers and Wilson remain with their current teams, and the Broncos will have to look for other options.
Sheil Kapadia of The Athletic recently released an article with predictions for the upcoming NFL offseason, and it included an interesting scenario for the Broncos.
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Kapadia predicted that Rodgers will return to the Green Bay Packers and Wilson will return to the Seattle Seahawks. With those options off the board, he predicted the Broncos will make a trade for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
The Broncos have a couple of connections to Cousins. One, general manager George Paton was in Minnesota with him. And two, Klint Kubiak is now their passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Kubiak was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach in 2019 and 2020 and their offensive coordinator last season. The Broncos — for better or worse — have more intel on Cousins than pretty much any team in the NFL.
Cousins Would Reunite with Klint Kubiak in Denver
Broncos quarterback coach Klint Kubiak has experience working with Cousins. Kubiak was the quarterback coach for the Vikings in 2019 and 2020. Last season, he was the team’s offensive coordinator.
Cousins had the best seasons of his career working with Kubiak. Cousins recorded a career-high quarterback rating of 107.4 in 2019. Then, Cousins threw a career-high 35 passing touchdowns in 2020.
If any quarterback coach can unlock the best version of Cousins, it is Kubiak.
Kirk Cousins’s Contract Would Be a Big Factor in a Potential Trade
Kirk Cousins carries a cap hit of $45 million. That is the third-highest in the NFL behind only Rodgers and Matt Ryan.
His salary for the upcoming season will be $35 million, and it will be difficult to trade him unless the Vikings are willing to pay some of that salary.
Kapadia addressed this:
One, how much of Cousins’ salary would the Vikings be willing to eat (in the form of a signing bonus) to trade him? And two, what type of draft compensation would a team be willing to give up to acquire Cousins?
The two questions are connected. If the Vikings were willing to pay, say, $25 million (not happening, just an extreme example to explain the point) of Cousins’ salary, and the new team was on the hook for just $10 million in 2022, well now all of a sudden he becomes more attractive, and a team might be willing to give up significant draft capital. Meanwhile, if the Vikings refused to pay any of the $35 million, well, now nobody’s going to give up even a conditional seventh.
If the Vikings are willing to pay $10 million of Cousins’s salary, he is a solid Plan C for the Broncos. The Broncos could offer the Vikings a third-round pick.
Despite his faults, Cousins has been an above-average quarterback for the last few years. Last season, he had a PFF grade of 88.2, which was sixth among quarterbacks.