Minnesota Vikings listed as a potential destination for Kirk Cousins in 2018
By Adam Patrick
The quarterback will likely be a free-agent in 2018 and one news outlet has the Minnesota Vikings as a possible team that could sign him to their roster next year.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins and the Washington Redskins have failed to agree on a long-term contract yet again and it seems that this could very well be his final season with the team. Cousins had the franchise tag placed on him by the Redskins this offseason for the second straight year and the team doing it again in 2018 does not seem too likely.
If Washington does indeed opt to not place the franchise tag on the quarterback for the third year in a row, Cousins will then become an unrestricted free-agent following the conclusion of the 2017 NFL season and be free to sign with any team that offers him a contract.
As a result of this possible outcome, ESPN’s Dan Graziano has listed the top 10 potential suitors for the quarterback in 2018 and the Minnesota Vikings were among those included. The Vikings do seem as a bit of an odd choice for Cousins to settle on, but Graziano provided his reasoning for them being on this list.
"“It’s a fluid and murky quarterback situation in Minnesota, where Teddy Bridgewater’s health remains a mystery and Sam Bradford only has one year left on his contract. Odds are, one of those guys will be Minnesota’s quarterback in 2018. But health and market factors could mess with the plans and leave the Vikings shopping for QB help. They would come to the table with more than $55 million in cap space.”"
Really, the cap space is the only thing that helps make any sense for why Minnesota was listed as a potential landing spot for Cousins.
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As it stands right now, either Sam Bradford or Teddy Bridgewater will likely be the Vikings’ starting quarterback in 2018. Tragedy and unfortunate circumstances would have to occur in order for neither of these two signal callers to be on the team’s roster next year (but never say never in Minnesota).
Is there potential that the Vikings could attempt to sign Cousins if he were a free-agent in 2018? Yes, but the chances seem very minimal at this point in time.
Cousins has put up some impressive numbers in his last two seasons, (9,083 yards, 54 touchdowns, 23 interceptions), but something still just does not seem to pass the eye test with him. It will be interesting to see how the quarterback performs this season without Sean McVay as his offensive coordinator for the first time in three years (McVay is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams).
Next: Could Teddy actually be ready for training camp?
Minnesota makes for a fun choice on this list because the future of their starting quarterback slot is still unknown for 2018. But Cousins signing with the Vikings next year is not really something anyone should believe to be an anything more than just a possibility.