The Minnesota Vikings began their off-season program on Monday. Players both old and new spoke to reporters about the upcoming season. Many shared optimism about the new regime. Unsurprisingly, Kirk Cousins, their polarizing quarterback, made headlines.
Cousins signed a one-year extension this offseason, locking him up through 2023. He will be 35 by the time the contract is over. However, the 11-year vet doesn’t envision a change of scenery when 2024 rolls around.
“I would like to retire as a Viking,” Cousins said, “and so I would like to play my way into that, if you will. I know I’ve got to earn the right to do that.”
Naturally, Cousins’ fans and critics took their sides. Regardless of where you stand, we shouldn’t expect a quarterback to express his desire to leave an organization when he’s in the middle of his contract. Cousins didn’t need to feel obligated to restructure his contract, but his extension reduced his 2021 cap hit by $10 million.
Cousins’ extension allowed the Vikings to get more aggressive in adding pieces to the offensive line. It also improved a defense that let the team down too often over the past two seasons. It not only showed a commitment from a regime that didn’t sign Cousins but also a commitment from the QB to the Vikings.
On paper, Cousins has done everything required of a franchise quarterback. He has thrown for 16,387 yards and 124 touchdowns in four seasons and has been intercepted only 36 times. He’s completed 68.3% of his passes, among the best in the league.
Unfortunately, the results as a whole haven’t been nearly as impressive. Cousins is 33-29-1 in 63 games as Minnesota’s starter. They made the playoffs once, but the San Francisco 49ers soundly beat them 27-10 after they upset the New Orleans Saints on wild card weekend in 2019. Cousins knows this, and he acknowledged his shortcomings when it comes to being a bonafide franchise signal-caller.
“It’s making plays. It’s leading your teammates,” he explained. “It’s playing with poise, toughness, all the things it takes to be a great quarterback.”
These qualities haven’t always been on display during Cousins’ time in Minnesota. Part of that could be that former GM Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer weren’t on the same page when it came to signing Cousins. It wasn’t a well-kept secret that Cousins and Zimmer weren’t simpatico. Zimmer focused on the defensive side of the ball and was hyper-critical of his quarterback. The two personalities never meshed.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell both advocated for Cousins, though. Therefore, the quarterback’s future in Minnesota falls on his own shoulders. O’Connell and Cousins have a history dating back to 2017, when O’Connell was the quarterbacks coach in Washington.
Their history together should help Cousins throughout the week from an X’s-and-O’s perspective as much as it does from a communication standpoint. Kirk will no longer have to beg his head coach to watch film with him. Instead, we can expect the two to operate in lockstep every day.
According to Pro Football Focus, Minnesota also made a concerted effort to bring in interior offensive linemen this offseason, hoping to improve an offensive line that ranked 26th in pass blocking. That should give Cousins a pocket to operate out of that he hasn’t had in four seasons in Minnesota. He has never been mistaken for Fran Tarkenton and his wheels, so beefing up the interior line is (and should have always been) a priority.
With a head coach who helps run the show on offense and an o-line that should finally be competent, it is up to Cousins to not only produce but to win. He has one of the best receivers in the NFL in Justin Jefferson. Tight end Irv Smith, Jr. will return from an ACL tear, and Dalvin Cook is one of the league’s most explosive backs when healthy.
With what appears to be an ideal environment for Cousins, do we see his true leadership qualities come out? We saw glimpses of it last season when he led four game-winning drives. It was on display when he helped rally the team against the Denver Broncos from a 20-0 halftime deficit. And he even proved he can do it in a big spot when knocking the Saints out of the playoffs when the Vikings traveled to the hostile Superdome.
Cousins knows he has to deliver in these moments if he wants to reach his goal of retiring as a Viking. “It’s doing (the things that make a great quarterback) not one time, not one season,” he said on Monday. “Not for a two- or three-year run. It’s doing it day after day after day.”
The supporting cast is there. The talent is there. The new regime is behind him. Now, Cousins needs to combine the intangibles of a great quarterback with his God-given talent to become the true franchise quarterback that the Minnesota Vikings need.
