4 players the Vikings should avoid extending during the 2022 offseason

Kirk Cousins – QB

Figuring out if Kirk Cousins is going to be part of their future plans is going to arguably be the biggest decision the Vikings will have to make in the 2022 offseason.

Currently, Cousins’ contract with Minnesota runs until 2023 and he has a $45 million cap hit in 2022. That gigantic cap hit is something the Vikings want to avoid, but the only way they can is by trading the veteran quarterback next year or by extending him.

Based on how Minnesota has performed with Cousins as their starting quarterback since he arrived in 2018, not extending him and looking for a trade partner is something that the Vikings should be trying to do during the upcoming offseason.

Cousins, himself, has put up impressive statistics during his time with Minnesota, but his numbers haven’t really resulted in success for the team. Cousins is in the mold of someone like Philip Rivers, Matthew Stafford, or Alex Smith where the yearly statistics might be good for the quarterback, but for whatever reason, the overall team success is not.

Cousins has also been in the NFL for 10 years, so things aren’t just going to miraculously change if the Vikings bring in some young offensive mastermind to be their new head coach. His time in Washington went pretty similar to how things have gone in Minnesota, so at this point, there’s no reason to expect anything to be different for him moving forward.

Maybe Cousins can eventually help a team win a Super Bowl one day, but it just won’t be with the Vikings.