Nothing has changed – at least not publicly – in the Kirk Cousins contract saga.
Cousins is entering his age-35 season under contract with the Vikings. As the situation sits today, Cousins is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent at the beginning of the 2024 NFL year, which will arrive sometime in mid-March.
No one knows if contract talks are happening behind closed doors, and no one really knows if Minnesota GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell would prefer extending Cousins or starting fresh with a quarterback of their choosing. Remember, the GM and coach inherited Cousins when they replaced Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer following the 2021 season.
What does Vikings owner Mark Wilf have to say? He was asked if he wants Cousins back in 2024 during a press briefing at Vikings training camp on Tuesday.
“We’ll leave that to Kwesi and coach to work through those discussions,” Wilf said. “There’s always conversations on that. But our real focus is 100% on 2023 and getting where we need to be, and where I know we can be.”
That’s a 12-second response that echoes what he said about the topic in March.
“Kirk is an outstanding leader,” Wilf said March 13. “He’s led this team incredibly these past few years and we’re looking for great things from him in 2023.”
No mention of anything beyond 2023 from the owner. Not in March and not two days before the Vikings open the preseason Thursday night at Seattle.
Cousins could sign an extension at any time, but he said July 25 that he’s taking it one day at a time and his focus is on playing football and nothing else. If something does come up, he expects his agent Mike McCartney to call him.
“I tell Mike, you don’t call me until you got something that’s worth talking about,” Cousins said. “Until then, Mike, you’ve done this for 12 years, I’ll trust you to handle it. I just let Mike do his job and my expectation is, until he calls me I’m just able to focus on football and he shouldn’t be calling me unless there’s something of note.”
On May 3, Cousins’s comments suggested that he’s prepared to play the season without a contract extension, and then see what happens in February and March.
“You get to next February and you say ‘everything will work out.’ And it’s best to just say in the present to have March go the way you want it to go,” Cousins said.
He also made it clear on May 3 that he wants to finish his career with the Vikings.
“Yeah, that’s kind of a no-brainer. Hopefully we can earn the right to do that.”
