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There is not bigger question for New England football types than who, when the 2024 season rolls around, will be the Patriots quarterback. There are a number of ways the Pats could go on the question—we’ll get into that—but maybe the most efficient win-now move if the team wants to compete in Jerod Mayo’s first season is an aggressive push to sign Kirk Cousins.
Yes, the same Kirk Cousins who is 36 years old and played only eight games last year because of an Achilles tendon tear. And the same Kirk Cousins who figures to cost any team that signs him around $40 million per year. Spotrac projects his market to yield a three-year $118 million contract, while Pro Football Focus puts him at more modest two-year, $60 million deal because of the injury.
According to the gambling site Bookies.com, the Patriots are the No. 2 favorite to sign Cousins this offseason, behind the Raiders (at plus-400, or 20%), the Falcons (plus-425, or 19.1%). The Patriots’ odds of signing Cousins come in at plus-500, or 16.7%.
Different Paths for Next Patriots Quarterback
The question of which path the Patriots take to their next quarterback is one that figures to come up repeatedly in coming months. Essentially, they have four options.
They could make an aggressive and surprising move in free agency, as would be required to land Cousins. Baker Mayfield would be a possibility, or, when he is set free, Russell Wilson of the Broncos. Ryan Tannehill would be a low-cost option. But again, it’s a longshot to think the Patriots would land a big-time quarterback on the market, because those quarterbacks would take one look at the mess the team has at wide receiver and on the offensive line and move on.
The second option would be moving up in the draft, if they gave up a ton of capital to get the No. 1 pick. That would allow them to draft, presumably, Caleb Williams. Given what the Bears were able to pilfer from the Panthers for the No. 1 pick last year, such a deal would cost New England this year’s No. 3 pick as well as next year’s first-round pick, plus more draft assets that would make this option unpalatable.
Third, they could make a trade, presumably with the Bears for Justin Fields. That would be much less costly in terms of assets, but also a bit riskier. The Patriots would have one year to see if Fields is the right fit before having to pay him major money. They could also gamble on a trade for the likes of Trey Lance or another project.
Fourth, the Patriots could scrap the whole idea of a draft-day trade and simply take whichever quarterback falls to them at No. 3, among the group of Williams, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels. This is the most likely scenario.
Kirk Cousins Ranked No. 2 Free Agent
Cousins is the No. 2 ranked free agent at PFF, and is coming off a year in which he threw for 291.4 yards per game, second-best of his career. He also had a quarterback rating of 103.8, which was third-best of his 12-year career.
Could he fit with the Patriots? Obviously, he is not a long-term option but Cousins could potentially give the Patriots two very good seasons, especially if they can add a true No. 1 wide receiver to the mix. The Patriots could still draft a quarterback at No. 3 and let him develop behind Cousins for a couple of seasons.
As PFF wrote of Cousins: “An ill-timed torn Achilles derailed another strong season from Cousins, and he looked set to have a host of suitors in free agency, as he did back in 2018. Cousins still has the requisite arm strength to throw to all levels of the field and has been as accurate as ever in recent seasons.”
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