There was a time last offseason when it might have made some level of sense, and it came up quite a bit. But the idea of Kirk Cousins being traded back to the Minnesota Vikings, to be the backup for J.J. McCarthy or even possibly usurp him on the depth chart if it came to that, has been put to bed in any place that really matters.
Last week, probably due to a lack of any other options to offer (and they offered no others), ESPN's Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler mentioned the Vikings as a possible trade fit for Cousins. Fowler wrote how Carson Wentz's Week 7 struggles "make a Cousins reunion in Minneapolis a convenient talking point for fans and media."
Convenient is the wrong adjective to describe the Cousins reunion "talking point", which doesn't even truly exist. How about vomit-inducing? Or head-scratching?
Efforts to revive Kirk Cousins reunion with Minnesota Vikings idea continue to fall flat
In The Athletic's recent Week 8 takeaways column, the topic of Kirk Cousins' trade value in the wake of an awful performance filling in for Michael Penix against the Miami Dolphins was explored. The general sentiment from writers Dan Pompei, Michael Silver, and Ted Nguyen was not incredibly negative.
Silver noted how Cousins looked nothing like the pre-Achilles tear 2023 version of himself against Miami, then he went all the way with the Vikings' angle.
"Yes, if you’re the Vikings, and you don’t believe J.J. McCarthy or Carson Wentz can get you to the playoffs, you’re still thinking about a potential Cousins reunion."
Nguyen took the reunion baton from Silver.
"If the Vikings’ offensive line gets healthy, I think Cousins could step in and outplay Wentz and McCarthy. There’s always room in the league for older quarterbacks who know an entire offense and can operate it competently.
Minnesota may be the only spot in which Cousins could work — he’s played at a high level in that system, throwing to Justin Jefferson — but the Vikings may be committed to seeing what they have in McCarthy. I don’t see another team that would trade for him."
With how he played against the Dolphins, on top of how poorly he played to lose the starting job to Penix last season, saying Cousins could outplay Wentz or McCarthy with a healthy Vikings' offensive line is a declaration without justification.
And unless or until he shows otherwise, upon getting a full opportunity to show what he can do, the Vikings are committed to McCarthy. That's not even a "may be" conversation.
Any possible landing spot there might have been for Cousins to be traded to, barring a significant injury to a starting quarterback in Week 9, is no longer in play.
So lest his name be left off lists of trade candidates as the deadline nears, or he go unmentioned in similar written fodder, the Vikings are left to be tied to him when it makes zero sense.