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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ future with the team has been called into question — given his $45 million cap hit for the 2022 season, the third-highest cap hit in the NFL.
Soon-to-be hired head coach Kevin O’Connell has put his cards on the table. He “conveyed a firm belief in Kirk Cousins during the interview process,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on February 7.
“He’s high on him. The front office must decide on Cousins’ future due to his $45M cap hit, but many coaches interviewing for job liked Cousins, O’Connell included.”
SKOR North’s Judd Zulgad speculated the possibility of the Vikings driving up the price on a potential trade for Cousins with the Fowler leak.
However, that price better be steep, if you ask one of the team’s leaders.
Vikings veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson recently came to Cousins’ defense, saying the team should not trade Cousins for the low, and compared the veteran signal caller to a Super Bowl quarterback.
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‘Why Would You Trade Him?’
Appearing on the All Things Covered podcast, Peterson weighed in on Cousins’ future, saying he should not be traded unless Minnesota can get “something spectacular” for him.
He compared Cousins to Matthew Stafford, who floundered with the Detroit Lions for much of his career before joining the Super Bowl-bound Los Angeles Rams this season.
“Kirk is like a Matthew Stafford, and you know how I feel about Matthew Stafford. He’s an underrated quarterback. He might not go out there and put up 320 yards a game, but he’s going to be efficient with his numbers. He’s going to get the ball where it needs to be. He’s not forcing any turnovers. He’s going to be very smart with the ball. He’s going to put together drives for you, and he has a strong arm to push the ball down the field,” Peterson said.
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Stafford and Cousins Identical in All But One Category
The similarities are uncanny when looking at Cousins and Stafford’s passing statistics per game over their careers. Both players have averaged 1.8 passing touchdowns per game and a 0.9 difference in passing yards per game.
| Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Rush | Rush | Rush | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | Att | Yds | TD |
| 1 | Kirk Cousins | 22.6 | 33.8 | 260.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 14.1 | 2.1 | 6.7 | 0.1 |
| 2 | Matthew Stafford | 23.6 | 37.5 | 274.7 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 15.0 | 2.1 | 6.8 | 0.1 |
Stafford, like Cousins, didn’t have a strong playoff pedigree before joining the Rams — one of the reasons the former Lions quarterback hasn’t been in discussion among the league’s top-tier QBs. He went 0-3 in the postseason with the Lions before winning three straight postseason games this year to make it to his first Super Bowl.
However, Stafford entered an ideal situation in Los Angeles and has a team-friendly $20 million cap hit that didn’t force the Rams to part ways with any of their integral pieces.
With a strong supporting cast in Los Angeles, Stafford catapulted himself among the league’s most productive quarterbacks, ranking third in passing yards (4,886) and second in touchdowns (41).
Cousins arguably has better weapons at his disposal on offense, but the defense was the bane of the team’s success this season. Minnesota’s attempt at defensive rehaul in 2021, introducing seven budget-friendly veteran starters on one-year contracts, proved futile.
And the Vikings are potentially in worse shape financially this year at $15.3 million over the cap. The defense likely won’t see significant improvement in what’s become a perennial reshuffling of the defense since Cousins got his contract extension in January 2020.
With Stafford carrying a $23 million cap hit for the 2022, He’s $22 million cheaper than Cousins next season — that’s worth two solid cornerbacks or a Pro Bowl-caliber edge rusher that could be signed with those savings.
O’Connell could bring the Vikings offense to the next level by using Cousins similar to how the Rams have made their run with Stafford. But the defense will need to become respectable if they have any chance of going deep into the postseason.
That will prove difficult with Cousins’ contract, forcing the issue of either extending the veteran quarterback or making a trade.
Peterson, a pending free agent with no certainty of being resigned, suggested a trial year with Cousins and O’Connell, but with his current cap hit on the final year of his contract, that leaves little room for the Vikings’ new regime to revamp the team in their vision. They also may not be ready to tie themselves to Cousins long-term after seeing how that turned out for Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer.
O’Connell’s “firm belief” in Cousins may be true, but the phone lines are likely to open again this offseason after the Vikings “quietly shopped” Cousins in 2021.
