Have the Vikings have already made a Kirk Cousins decision for 2024?

Recent comments from Kirk Cousins about possibly taking a discount sound more like a last-ditch effort to return to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2024 season.

As his teammates were busy cleaning out their lockers on Monday, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins took some time to answer a few questions from some of the local Twin Cities media.

At one point, Cousins was asked if he would be willing to take a "hometown discount" to remain with the Vikings. Minnesota's veteran quarterback responded by saying that at this stage in his NFL career, "the dollars are not really what it's about."

Cousins hasn't really said anything like this before, so could this sudden willingness to potentially take less money actually be a result of him already knowing what the Vikings' quarterback plans are for the 2024 offseason?

Will Kirk Cousins be back with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2024 season?

Minnesota is now heading into their third offseason with head coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensha leading the way.

During the past two years, the Vikings haven't really shown that they're committed to keeping Cousins around long-term.

During the 2022 offseason, Minnesota signed the quarterback to a one-year extension worth $35 million.

Then, last year, with his contract set to expire in 2024, the Vikings decided to just restructure Cousins' deal instead of giving him another extension.

If Minnesota wanted him to remain the team's starting quarterback for the next few seasons, he probably would have already signed a multi-year extension, right?

But that isn't what has happened, and after he missed half of the 2023 campaign because of a torn Achilles, it would be odd for the Vikings to suddenly change their commitment level for the 35-year-old quarterback.

Minnesota brought Cousins in back in 2018, a few months after the team was able to make it all the way to the NFC Championship with Case Keenum as their starting quarterback.

The Vikings believed Cousins would help them get over the hump to earn their first Super Bowl appearance since the 1976 season.

Fast forward to now, and Minnesota has won a grand total of one playoff game and missed the postseason four times during the quarterback's six years with the franchise.

The Vikings' current regime was even willing to see if they could help steer Cousins in the right direction to achieve significant playoff success for the first time in his career.

But, in terms of his team's success level, not much has changed since O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah arrived in 2022, and now more than ever, it seems like Minnesota is closer to moving in a new direction that doesn't include Cousins.

The quarterback likely knows more than the public when it comes to the Vikings' plans this offseason, so were the comments he made on Monday about possibly taking a discount his way of making one last attempt at convincing the team to keep him around for another season?

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