Kirk Cousins is due to carry a $36.25 million cap hit next season with the Minnesota Vikings, but will he be back in Purple and Gold? The veteran quarterback has a full no-trade clause and two void years on his contract for 2024 and 2025.
After Sunday’s playoff loss to the Giants, Cousins was asked if he wants to sign another contract extension with the Vikings.
“I really have a hard time focusing on beyond right now,” said Cousins. “But it’s an easy question to answer in the sense that I love being a Minnesota Viking. It’s privilege to play here and it’s a privilege to play with that group, these coaches. That’s the way it’ll always be for me.”
Cousins’ checkdown to T.J. Hockenson on 4th-and-8 proved to be the fatal blow to the Vikings’ season, but he was otherwise quite good, finishing the game 31-of-39 for 273 yards and two touchdowns. And the previous offensive possession Cousins completed two short passes that were well short of the markers in a three-and-out that led to a punt when the Vikings were trailing 31-24.
The question is if failures of Sunday’s playoff loss outweigh all the good Cousins did this season, helping the Vikings go 11-0 in one-score games during the regular season and leading the team to eight come-from-behind victories, which tied Matthew Stafford’s NFL record.
In December, following Minnesota’s record-setting 33-point comeback win over the Colts, Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller suggested that Cousins had probably earned a contract extension with the Vikings.
@bringmn Which #Vikings players will be back next year? Click the link in our bio for more Minnesota sports. #MNVikings #MinnesotaVikings #NFL #Vikes #Skol ♬ original sound – BringMeTheNews
“I look at what happened against Indy as the tipping point to definitively say Kirk Cousins signs an extension. Anything can happen and sometimes we say things definitively and they don’t come to fruition, but in this case are you telling me this team’s going to win 12 or 13 games and have a comeback like that and all the comebacks they’ve had and then they’re going to come to the table and say, ‘No, sorry, Kirk. We’re going the Alex Smith route.’ I’d be very surprised,” said Coller.
Last week, Cousins was asked to evaluate his season and while doing so he suggested that he’ll keep playing until he stops improving.
“Every time you go out there and play and learn and get better, you build as a player. Continuous improvement is what I’ve always looked for,” said Cousins. “You always want to get better as a quarterback, and I think that continuous improvement has happened. The day that I don’t feel that’s happening anymore, I’ll probably walk away.”
The 34-year-old QB has time to decompress before the next big decision is made.
