The Minnesota Vikings could look quite a bit different a year from now. One of the major questions looming over the franchise is the status of quarterback Kirk Cousins beyond this coming season. The veteran is entering the final year of his contract, and there hasn't been any indication that there's an extension on the horizon, meaning that Cousins could enter free agency next offseason. In fact, Cousins even admitted back in June that he didn't expect any contract negotiations until next March.
But what does ownership think of the situation? Is Cousins someone they would like to retain for the foreseeable future? On Tuesday, Vikings owner Mark Wilf was asked just that: Do you want to re-sign Cousins after this season?
"We'll leave that to [general manager] Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] and coach [Kevin O'Connell] to work through those discussions," he said, via Pro Football Talk. "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."
While that's not a no, it's certainly not a yes, either. If the team was thrilled with Cousins, one would imagine that they'd like to lock him up instead of making him a lame-duck quarterback in 2023. But that's exactly where the Vikings are at with their signal-caller.
Cousins has been with the Vikings since 2018 when the team initially inked him to a three-year, $84 million contract, which was, at that point, the first fully guaranteed deal in NFL history. In March of 2022, he agreed to a one-year, $35 million fully guaranteed extension that he'll wrap up this season. While Cousins has certainly been paid handsomely throughout his Vikings tenure and put up impressive statistical seasons, he is just 1-2 in the playoffs with the franchise.
It could be that lack of playoff success that is giving Minnesota pause from extending this marriage beyond 2023. That said, if the Vikings are going to move on, they'll need to have a savvy plan at quarterback with no feasible successor currently on the roster.
