Paul Allen shares harsh truth about future of Kirk Cousins in Minnesota

Minnesota Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen doesn't believe re-signing quarterback Kirk Cousins fits with the team's current approach.

Prior to suffering his season-ending Achilles injury in Week 8 of the 2023 campaign, Kirk Cousins was arguably playing better than he ever had during his previous five years with the Minnesota Vikings.

Unfortunately, Cousins tore his Achilles, and his future with the Vikings is now a complete unknown as the quarterback is currently scheduled to become a free agent in March.

Despite how well he was playing before his injury, it's going to be hard for teams to ignore the fact that he's going to be a 36-year-old quarterback coming off of a torn Achilles when it comes time for Week 1 of the 2023 season.

Paul Allen asks how hard can the Minnesota Vikings "preach analytics" if they re-sign Kirk Cousins?

When he was hired as Minnesota's general manager in 2022, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was described by many as someone who was going to use a more analytical approach to building a roster than the team's previous regime.

If this is truly the case, then there's at least one person who believes that it doesn't make a ton of sense for the Vikings to invest a bunch more money into Cousins this offseason.

During a recent episode of his radio show on KFXN-FM, Minnesota play-by-play announcer Paul Allen shared why he doesn't think re-signing Cousins and the Vikings emphasizing analytics when building their roster are two things that can coexist.

"How hard can [the Vikings] preach analytics if you ship all in on a 36-year-old quarterback [coming] off a busted Achilles?

How hard can you preach new-school, margin rules, or whatever?

[In] no way does that amount of cash for that age off that injury absolutely check all the boxes, analytically speaking, of what they're thinking."

In terms of cost, re-signing the veteran quarterback isn't something that is expected to be cheap this offseason. Currently, Spotrac has estimated Cousins' market value at $39.3 million per year.

If that yearly amount is close to what the quarterback is hoping to land in his next contract, then that's a deal Minnesota probably isn't going to pursue if they intend to stick to their analytical approach, as Allen pointed out.

Adofo-Mensah also had a previous career as a stock trader, so in terms of making more of an investment in Cousins this year, that might be a bigger risk than what the Vikings general manager is willing to take this offseason.

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