03-22-2021, 07:48 PM
Jackpot for Kirk Cousins, whose Vikings contract is now guaranteed for 2022 for $35M
Former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann said he made $1 million in 1984, making him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL.
On Friday, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins had his 2022 base salary fully guaranteed for $35 million. That increases his career earnings to $196 million through 2022, which will be his 11th season.
“I know who to go to for a loan right now,” Theismann said with a laugh.
Cousins, entering his fourth season with the Vikings, had his $21 million base salary for 2021 guaranteed last March when he signed a two-year, $66 million extension on top of the three-year, $84 million deal he signed in 2018.
There was no drama heading into Friday on whether Cousins would remain on the Vikings’ books past the third day of the new league year, when his 2022 guarantee kicked in. But there could be drama after next season when the Vikings could face a $45 million cap number for Cousins.
Cousins’ cap number for 2021 is $31 million, which takes up 17 percent of the team’s cap. In 2022, he could be on the books for more than 22 percent of the cap.
The cap decreased from $198.2 million to 182.5 million in 2021 because of lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the NFL announced this week a $113 billion television deal that begins in 2023, salary-cap analyst Jason Fitzgerald said that won’t result in “a massive impact on the cap until 2024.” Fitzgerald predicts next year’s cap number will be between $200 million and $215 million per team.
“I think $45 million for one person against the cap is a daunting number,” said Theismann, who led Washington to victory in Super Bowl XVII in January 1983 and got to know Cousins well when he was Washington’s quarterback from 2012-17. “He’s got a palpable number for this year, but when it goes to $45 million next year, that’s a couple of football players.”
Obviously, it remains to be seen how Cousins and the Vikings will fare in 2021. If the season goes well, Cousins, 32, could be a candidate for a contract extension that could lower the team’s cap number in 2022. If the season doesn’t go well, the Vikings could have major issues with what to do with Cousins.
In Cousins’ three seasons with the Vikings, the team has made the playoffs just once, and a postseason win in January 2020 remains the only one in Cousins’ nine-year career. His record as a starter with Minnesota is 25-21-1, making his career mark 51-51-2.
Cousins put up good numbers last season, throwing for a career-high 35 touchdowns, but talk about him often comes down to how many wins he has produced as one of the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks. Former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway was asked Friday on KFAN-FM about Cousins being on the books for his career earnings to exceed $190 million.
“How many playoff games has he won?” said Greenway, who played for Minnesota from 2006-16, leaving two years before Cousins arrived. “I’m not a Kirk hater. I’m not a Kirk hater. I’m not a Kirk hater. But I’m getting $190 million on one playoff win?”
Greenway did add, “I’m a supporter. I should say it differently. I love Kirk.”
Cousins, though, has been getting less love lately in the Twin Cities after the Vikings went 7-9 in 2021, and much of that has to do with his bloated contract. Theismann was asked if it’s fair that he gets knocked so much for it.
“Do people have the right to knock him?” Theismann said. “Sure. Is it fair? What’s fair? When you make that much money, do you really care? I mean, he’s a starting quarterback in the NFL. He’s been compensated with a very large number. … You get whatever you can get. He’s gotten almost $200 million over 11 years. Good for him.”
Theismann joked that he was born at the wrong time considering his salary was $1 million in 1984, a year after being named first-team all-pro. And that money didn’t last. He said that after he suffered a career-ending leg injury in 1985, he was still under contract for more than $1 million in 1986, but NFL rules that season only entitled him to $65,000.
https://www.twincities.com/2021/03/19/ki...ng-amount/
