Pros and Cons for the Vikings re-signing Kirk Cousins in 2024 (and beyond)
By Ben Donahue
Should the Minnesota Vikings consider re-signing Kirk Cousins for 2024 despite his season-ending injury?
On October 29, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was lost for the season due to an Achilles injury suffered against Green Bay. Before his injury, it was debatable whether Cousins would re-sign with Minnesota after the season.
Due to his injury, and the fact that recent signee Josh Dobbs has won two straight games, some are wondering if it’s even worth trying to bring Cousins back. Here are the pros and cons of re-signing the quarterback in 2024 (and possibly beyond).
Pro: Quarterbacks are not created equal
Despite decades of evidence to the contrary, there are still football fans that believe that all quarterbacks are created equal. If the current starting quarterback for your favorite team can’t lead their franchise to a Super Bowl, get rid of him and get someone else. Every year there’s a call for a signal-caller’s head from one fan base or another.
Be careful what you wish for. There are so few true franchise quarterbacks in the NFL because it’s one of the hardest positions to play in all professional sports. For example, look at who the Vikings have had under center just since 2011.
After Brett Favre retired following the 2010 season, Minnesota drafted Florida State’s Christian Ponder with the 12th overall pick in 2011 to be their next franchise QB. He had a solid 2012 campaign but never really put it all together and was gone by 2015. Minnesota saw the writing on the wall with Ponder and selected Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater with the 32nd overall pick in 2014.
Bridgewater could have been special but a horrific knee injury suffered during the 2016 preseason left him a shell of his former self and he exited Minnesota after 2017. While Bridgewater was rehabbing in 2017, the Vikings had Sam Bradford and Case Keenum. Keenum helped take Minnesota to the playoffs and threw the touchdown that led to the Minneapolis Miracle against New Orleans.
Instead of bringing back any of those quarterbacks in 2018, the Vikings cleaned house completely and signed Cousins. Since then, he has started nearly every game as a Viking before suffering his injury this year. Cousins has also passed for over 4,000 yards in four of his five full years with Minny. Then he had over 2,300 yards and a crazy good 18 touchdowns in just eight games this year.
Furthermore, Cousins was voted to the Pro Bowl after the 2019, 2021, and 2022 seasons. To those who want to replace Cousins in 2024 with another quarterback, who can you possibly sign or draft that you can guarantee those types of numbers?