As Kirk Cousins put pen to paper Thursday afternoon in the TCO Performance Center draft room, he was making history.
Three years, $84 million. The largest fully-guaranteed quarterback contract in history.
The Minnesota Vikings, at last, believe they have their franchise quarterback. Barring injury, Cousins will be the team’s sixth consecutive different Week 1 starter — a streak Minnesota hopes ends this year.
No, it wasn’t cheap.
But the process seemed to be relatively hitch-free, once push came to shove.
Cousins was in Minnesota for the Super Bowl when he heard the news that the Washington Redskins, his now-former team, had traded for passer Alex Smith, signaling the end of Cousins’ tenure in the nation’s capital.
So the former fourth-round pick immediately began scouting the Twin Cities as a potential new home.
“I had five or six days here,” said Cousins. “I rented a car and drove out here and drove by Winter Park and drove through Eagan. I wanted to get a feel for the area and did the best research that I could. I called [my wife] Julie near the end of the week and said, ‘Everything is checking the boxes here.'”
The full-court-press that pundits expected the cap-rich New York Jets to put on Cousins never had a chance to truly materialize. Early speculation was that Cousins would take multiple visits when free agency began, but news leaked within 24 hours of the start of the negotiating period that Cousins to Minnesota was all but complete.
Numbers weren’t revealed, but Cousins’ agent Mike McCartney told reporters that they received better offers than Minnesota’s. Evidently, Cousins felt drawn to the Vikings.
A stifling defense and a room-full of offensive weapons can have that affect.
“That grocery list of reasons why I would want to be here, on that list is certainly the roster and the players on both sides of the ball,” said Cousins. “When you take a look at the offense, I could go on, and I’d probably leave someone out if I named them all. Again, it’s a testament to the leadership of this organization with the way they’ve drafted, the way they’ve handled free agency, the way they’ve structured things. Those rosters don’t happen by accident.”
John DeFilippo’s presence didn’t hurt either.
The former Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach — hired by head coach Mike Zimmer in January as the next offensive coordinator — was part of the brain trust that collaborated in a “locked room,” per GM Rick Spielman, to select Cousins as the team’s primary target.
“Love what they did offensively in Philadelphia,” Cousins said of DeFilippo. “I know he has a West Coast background, both at his days in Cleveland and Oakland and before that. I’m thrilled to get to work with an offensive mind like that.
“The other part that I love is he’s a high-energy guy, passion for the game, passion for people. I think it’ll be a joy to work with him on a day-to-day basis.”
The Vikings checked Cousins’ boxes, and he checked theirs. Zimmer rode backup Case Keenum to an NFC Championship last season but seemed hesitant along the way to fully endorse Keenum’s improvising, at-times-reckless playing style.
Cousins offers, perhaps, a more sustainable skill-set with three straight years passing for over 4,000 yards and delivering a better-than 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
“One of the other things I like about him is that he was a guy that always had to prove himself,” said Zimmer. “He’s like a lot of our football team – guys who come in here, work hard, do the things. He bet on himself several times and won, and those things are really important to me. He’s always played with a chip on his shoulder.”
He also hung 26 and 30 points, respectively, on Zimmer’s vaunted defenses in consecutive seasons.
Yes, the Vikings wanted an upgrade at the league’s most important position.
Cousins wanted commitment.
After failing to receive a long-term deal from the Redskins through three free-agency periods, Cousins hit the open-market and cashed in like no quarterback has before — setting a precedent that may change contract negotiations for years to come.
The Vikings invested in Cousins. Now he hopes to return the favor beyond the term of his current deal.
“This is a lifetime deal,” said Cousins. “That’s the goal. Yes, it’s a three-year deal. The expectation is from both sides, we’d raise our kids here, and if everything goes as planned that I’d be here a long, long time.”
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