From Monday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, it’s anyone’s guess as to which game has propelled the Minnesota Vikings to this point.
After a disappointing performance by backup Carson Wentz and stepping into the lineup in place of injured Kyler Murray, the Vikings traded for veteran — and former — quarterback Kirk Cousins. The passer will leave the Las Vegas Raiders and now return to Minnesota, hoping to establish an offense that will be a big question mark in the first half of the season.
Here are the full terms of the deal:
- Vikings receive: QB Kirk Cousins
- Raiders receive: 2027 third round pick
Invader level for Kirk relatives business
It’s hard not to love the process here in Las Vegas.
The Raiders signed Cousins last offseason to a five-year deal reportedly worth up to $172 million, but in reality a one-year, $20 million contract fully guaranteed through 2026, and the Atlanta Falcons paid nearly half of the fully guaranteed portion of the deal. With Cousins in place, the Raiders were free to draft Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but take their time with him.
That opened the door for Cousins earlier in the year, but now that the season has calmed down and the Raiders may be out of the game, they could turn to Mendoza to give him some time to learn.
And thanks to this deal, they now have more draft capital to use next spring to bring in some talent around their young quarterback.
Oh and They are on the way. Over $55 million in cap space next season.
Vikings rank for Kirk Cousins trade
On the one hand, this deal makes quite a bit of sense for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have a Super Bowl-caliber defense. They have talent around the quarterback position, starting with Justin Jefferson. Windows like this don’t come around every year, so if you have the chance to push your chips into the middle of the table to try and run, do what you have to do. And pairing Cousins with Kevin O’Connell was probably the best option for the Vikings right now.
Cousins gives them a clear upgrade over what they had at the position in Minnesota, they know O’Connell’s offense, and now the Vikings can stabilize the offense and pair it with the league’s best defense.
On the other hand, we must consider the process that led to this moment.
Cousins spent six years in Minnesota, and when he became a free agent in early 2024, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah let him test the open market. While many thought Cousins would return to the Vikings, he chose to sign a four-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons.
With quarterback now a more pressing need, the Vikings drafted JJ McCarthy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and moved up one spot in a trade with the New York Jets to select him. But McCarthy was named the backup behind Sam Darnold early in training camp and a knee injury sustained during preseason action caused him to miss his rookie season.
He became the first-round QB in NFL history to miss his entire rookie campaign due to injury.
So it was Darnold’s show in 2024 and he led the Vikings to 14 wins and a playoff berth. But after losing the wild card to the Rams, Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks, paving the way for McCarthy to take over as the starter. However, he suffered a severe ankle sprain in Week 2, the team turned to Carson Wentz, and McCarthy was in and out for the rest of the season.
Enter Kyler Murray, who was signed by the team last offseason. He won the job in training camp, Wentz was named the backup, and McCarthy started the year as QB3, before being traded to the New York Giants.
Now that Murray is hurt, Wentz is ineffective (to put it mildly, as… There’s a case to be made that it was the worst QB performance in franchise history.), and now the cousins come to save the day.
That’s a lot of words to say… a lot of bad decisions, or to put it better, a lot of decisions that went south, led to this moment. And to make up for it, the price is a third-round pick. So, it could be worse. Cousins is an improvement, but the process could have played much better in Minnesota.