Kirk Cousins Sends Clear Message on NFL Career, Vikings Future
Injured quarterback Kirk Cousins will return to the NFL next season.
The question is whether he will do it as a member of the Minnesota Vikings or another organization.
Speaking to the media on Friday, November 17, Cousins said he expects to be back on the field in 2024, although he doubts it will be his last season playing professional football after suffering an Achilles tendon injury against the Greens Bay Packers on
October 29 .
“Now it’s been a couple of weeks and we can say, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,'” Cousins said “I’m excited to write the next chapter and see what God wants to do with it.”
Kirk Cousins Willing to Wait Until Spring to Discuss Extension with Vikings
Cousins’ return to Minnesota remains uncertain as the team focuses on the playoffs without their starting quarterback.
But Cousins, ever the pro and teammate, said Friday he can expect to return to the negotiating table before the end of the 2023 season “March will be March, February will be February.
“That conversation will come, but it’s not the time yet,” Cousins said. “We have to focus a lot this season. “The players are playing really well, so that’s where we have to focus.”
Minnesota traded Josh Dobbs two days after Cousins’ injury, and later led the team to back-to-back wins.
The Vikings are currently 6-4 and have a better than 87 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to the ESPN Football Power Index.
Kirk Cousins Voices Desire to Retire as Member of Vikings
Cousins has repeatedly expressed his desire to finish his career in Minnesota and attempted to negotiate a multi-year extension with the Vikings this offseason to ensure that outcome.
“It’s always been that way since I’ve been here,” Cousins told KFAN on Friday.
“I understand there are a lot of options, but my desire is to be a Viking and retire and finish my career here.”
The QB’s front office offered the organization an undisclosed “discount” over the summer in exchange for multi-year terms on a new deal, but general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah did not agree to those terms.
Minnesota signed Cousins to a one-year extension two seasons ago, paying a total of $35 million in 2023.
Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz said Tuesday that both sides have rejected the idea of Cousins returning next season.
That’s likely because his injuries have made it more likely that he’ll sign a one-year deal in his age-36 season.
“My understanding is that both [Cousins] and the Vikings would be much more receptive to a return in 2024,” Schultz said.
“I heard it could mean a one-year contract. But the relationship that Cousins has built with [head coach] Kevin O’Connell, as well as the Vikings staff, players and coaches, is highly respected in the locker room and around town.
