INDIANAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have a massive decision to make. Coming off a torn Achilles, Kirk Cousins is in line for a new, potentially huge contract. But the 35-year-old is not a spring chicken anymore and while he is coming off a fantastic season while he was healthy, there are still questions about his return. The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the teams that could pounce on him if he reaches free agency.
But head coach Kevin O’Connell will try everything not to make that happen. The Vikings believe that Cousins wants to stay in Minnesota and that it is something that ends up getting done.
“This is not Kirk’s first time in free agency. Kirk Cousins knows how I feel about him. I’ve held no secrets there. He knows how the Minnesota Vikings feel about him. I believe Kirk wants to be a Viking, and we’re going to work to try to make that the outcome,” O’Connell said. “You know, honestly, I feel like we’re heading toward a good place with Kirk, but like we’ve seen, free agency and the uncertainties for this time of year, you’ve got to be ready in a leadership role to have contingency plans and adjust on the fly.”
According to Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press, Cousins wants $90 million guaranteed in a two-year contract.
“Buzz now is that it will take $90 million guaranteed for two years, despite that he’s still not yet fully recovered from Achilles surgery in November, to sign [Cousins],” Walters wrote.
The Steelers did clear some cap space with the releases of Mitch Trubisky, Mason Cole, and Chuks Okorafor. Okorafor was the big move, opening up $8.75 million in cap space, while Trubisky’s release saved the team about $2.9 million. Harvin, who was still on his rookie contract, did not contribute much cap savings in his release. After roster displacement, the Steelers are are still about $( million under the salary cap heading into free agency, so they still have work to do to have functional money to work with moving forward.
That makes a deal with Cousins very unlikely, though there would always be workarounds that they could employ. But given all the comments this offseason so far, a guy like Cousins coming in seems unlikely. And either way, Cousins feels like someone who is heading back to Minnesota.
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