With a lot of uncertainty at QB around the league, Kirk Cousins finds himself immensely valuable for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings have already undergone substantial changes in 2022, bringing in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell as their newest general manager and head coach, respectively. Next on the laundry list of offseason issues to tackle for Minnesota is the quarterback position. Will Kirk Cousins be the next Vikings player to move on?
There has been heavy chatter surrounding his name recently, most recently about the Carolina Panthers reportedly calling Minnesota about Cousins. This will certainly not be the last of these types of rumors.
Cousins signed with the Vikings in 2018 and has posted a 33-29-1 record since he arrived. He brought Minnesota to one wild-card berth in 2019 and an exhilarating playoff win in New Orleans, but it has been all disappointment outside of that.
With the Vikings set up to hit the reset button, moving on from Cousins and his current $45 million cap hit seems logical. Cousins is an extremely polarizing player, with fans coming out of the woodwork to defend his every move, and just as many jumping at every opportunity to critique him.
There will be some people who believe Cousins is good enough to garner a return the Detroit Lions got for Matthew Stafford last year at this time (he is not). On the complete opposite side are those such as former Vikings quarterback Sage Rosenfels, who believes it will take Minnesota adding additional draft capital in a trade to move on from Cousins (it will not).
The truth about Cousins’ trade value lies somewhere in the middle. However, due to some of the other variables that will play out this offseason, his trade value is higher than some might think. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why.
There are plenty of QB-needy teams
The Vikings deciding they want to move on from Kirk Cousins means nothing if there are not any suitors willing to deal for him. It takes two to tango. The good news for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is there are a plethora of teams looking to switch it up at quarterback this year.
We already touched on Carolina reaching out about Cousins, and they are joined by the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, and Pittsburgh Steelers when it comes to teams who most certainly will have a different starting QB in 2022.
Teams such as the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Las Vegas Raiders, and Miami Dolphins have all had rumblings about switch-ups at QB as well. That is not including the latest Kyler Murray drama in Arizona or Russell Wilson in Seattle.
That gives us 14 total teams you could talk yourself into trading for Cousins in some capacity. Most of them might not even make a call to Minnesota, but the possibility will drive up Cousins’ value.
We have a common example of supply and demand here. There are not going to be 13 or 14 QBs better than Cousins available this offseason, so the demand for a top 10-12 or so QB may be high.
Will it be so high that teams will be tripping over themselves to offer Minnesota multiple first-round picks? Certainly not. But a conditional first-round pick and a third-round pick similar to what the Colts gave up for Carson Wentz last year is not out of the question.
In an offseason where many teams need a change of scenery at QB, having Kirk Cousins on the table is not the worst position to be in. Trading for a veteran QB might not be the path some teams opt to take, instead preferring a younger, cheaper option. Speaking of which…
A weak QB class in the 2022 NFL Draft
Many of the teams listed on the last slide might not be in the position to trade for a more expensive, veteran QB, whether it be their salary cap situation or the overall state of their roster. The alternative option would be drafting a rookie QB.
The problem with this path in 2022 is this QB class appears to be the weakest class in a few years. Draft analysts struggle to come to a consensus on which QB is the best in the class, and yet the best in this class would likely rank sixth, at best, in comparison to last year’s draft class.
This does not mean that none of this year’s class will turn out to be successful, but the chances of any of these passers being ready to contribute in year one are pretty slim.
That means any team that drafts a rookie QB early might need an additional QB on the roster to start for the time being. While that might not be Kirk Cousins, that takes another available QB, like a Teddy Bridgewater or Jameis Winston, off the market and gives those remaining teams fewer options to choose from.
The more unappealing signal-callers there are available, the more likely it is that GMs around the league talk themselves into Cousins being their starter come Week 1 of the 2022 season.
Cousins is (shockingly) a good QB!
Lost in the noise of the “should Kirk Cousins play again for the Vikings?” debate is the fact that Cousins has had the best seasons of his career while in purple.
Many Cousins detractors lose sight of how much better he has been in Minnesota than he ever was in Washington. He statistically has been a top-10 QB with the Vikings, specifically if you look at just the last three years. His overall PFF grade has ranked in the top-10 each of those seasons and 2021 brought his highest grade yet.
PFF comes out with their QB annual every offseason, taking the deepest dive into many QB grades and metrics. This year’s annual showed Cousins with the top grade in the NFL from a clean pocket, which has been one of the most stable metrics from year to year for QBs.
The list can go on and on regarding stats and metrics Cousins has faired well in. That is the reason he has so many fans who back him.
Cousins has played the best football of his career in Minnesota, while the Vikings as an overall team have been a massive disappointment. Many fans fail to accept that both of those statements can be true at the same time. Cousins is a good QB, he just appears to have run his course with the Vikings.
This does not have to be a knock on Captain Kirk. He is not the first QB to be successful individually and need a change of scenery. Matthew Stafford just did the same before leaving Detroit for Los Angeles.
Is Cousins going to win a Super Bowl at his next stop? That seems highly doubtful. However, the combination of the teams in need of a QB, a weak draft class, and his overall ability bode well for his trade value for the Vikings this offseason.