Vikings are reportedly ‘very open’ to trading Kirk Cousins in 2022

According to a recent report, the Minnesota Vikings are willing to make a trade with another team this offseason that involves quarterback Kirk Cousins.

After doing everything they could during the last few weeks to make it seem like they were committed to building a team around Kirk Cousins, it now sounds like the Minnesota Vikings are much closer to trading the quarterback than they ever have been before.

On Friday, it was revealed that the Vikings are “very open to dealing,” Cousins this year according to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora.

As for the teams who could potentially make a trade for the Minnesota quarterback, La Canfora mentioned the Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks as possible landing spots.

Have we already seen the last of Kirk Cousins in a Minnesota Vikings uniform?

At 4pm ET on March 16 is when the 2022 league year will officially begin for the NFL. That is the deadline for teams to make sure they are under the salary cap, and currently, the Vikings are estimated to be around $15 million over the cap.

Trading Cousins will likely create a significant amount of cap space for Minnesota, whether they agree to take on some of his salary in 2022 or not. If paying the veteran quarterback next season is not part of the deal, then the Vikings will clear $35 million in cap space, and they would then meet the requirement of being under the 2022 salary cap.

With the new league year set to begin in less than a week, a trade involving Cousins will likely have to be made sooner than later if Minnesota wants to avoid parting ways with other notable veterans like Adam Thielen, Danielle Hunter, or Eric Kendricks to create the necessary cap space.

The teams that La Canfora mentioned as possible landing spots for Cousins, the Colts ($69.8 million) and Seahawks ($49.9 million), are both projected to have the most cap space in the entire NFL when the new league year begins next week.

That probably has a lot to do with their inclusion since a team could have to take on Cousins’ entire $35 million cap hit for 2022 in order to get a trade done.

Other teams that could be in the mix for the Vikings quarterback are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, and Houston Texans.

Things are clearly beginning to pick up more steam as each day passes and the possibility of Cousins no longer being a part of Minnesota’s roster is starting to definitely feel more realistic.