Why Kirk Cousins is entering the most important season of his career

Minnesota has to plan for the future:

There are two more years remaining on Kirk Cousins’ current contract with the Vikings. Minnesota has to pay Cousins until 2021, so he’s not going anywhere before then as much as some people may wish otherwise.

But even if he’s going to be around for another two seasons, it doesn’t mean that the Vikings cannot begin to think about who will be their starting quarterback when his contract eventually does expire.

Cousins’ performance in 2019 will likely determine whether or not Minnesota uses an early-round draft pick on a quarterback in 2020.

If Cousins and the Vikings are successful and they get back to the playoffs next season, then the team will likely be passing on using an early draft pick to add a new signal-caller in 2020.

But if Minnesota’s upcoming season ends up turning out similar to how it went in 2018, then don’t be surprised to hear talk of the Vikings having interest in some of the top quarterback prospects pick up steam during the 2020 offseason.

No one can blame Minnesota for taking this route either. They took a chance on Cousins last offseason and year one of his tenure definitely didn’t go as planned.

Obviously, the Vikings would love to avoid another offseason full of quarterback questions. But if Minnesota doesn’t succeed with Cousins under center in 2019, then they really have no other choice than to restart the process of looking elsewhere for a different quarterback.