Kirko Chainz: "I'd have stayed in Minnesota if I knew they'd draft a QB that high"

[MaroonBells]

I never thought it was 2 years, it never made sense to me. One year with maybe a year option for another. That seems to be verified by Kirk here in this video from 'Quarterback':

https://twitter.com/i/status/1942605259513196937

Dianna Russini
@DMRussini
The Vikings made Kirk Cousins an offer for more than one year that included guaranteed money in year two, sources tell
@alec_lewis and me. Ultimately, the Falcons’ offer exceeded how far Minnesota was willing to go. The team is now focused on maximizing a flexible future.

---

I think there’s probably something like 4-5 QBs in the league at any one time that if you have them, you should probably stop looking for a better QB.  If you’re not one of those QBs, you shouldn’t be surprised if your team is trying to upgrade.  These mid QBs need to stop being so comfortable.  You aren’t a professor getting tenure.  If you aren’t getting your team to a SB, you don’t deserve a long term contract.  Also teams need to stop settling for these mid QBs.  Stop giving these guys long contracts and then not bringing in a legit competitor to them.  This is how you end up spending decades not winning a SB.

I think teams are under the impression that you can do well with mid QBs if everything else is right. Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Brock Purdy, Jimmy G, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck are just a few examples of who I would consider "mid" QBs who played in Super Bowls. Some of them are downright sub-mid if that's a word...Dilfer, Collins, Delhomme...

[StickierBuns]

Dianna Russini
@DMRussini
The Vikings made Kirk Cousins an offer for more than one year that included guaranteed money in year two, sources tell
@alec_lewis and me. Ultimately, the Falcons’ offer exceeded how far Minnesota was willing to go. The team is now focused on maximizing a flexible future.

---

I think teams are under the impression that you can do well with mid QBs if everything else is right. Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Brock Purdy, Jimmy G, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck are just a few examples of who I would consider "mid" QBs who played in Super Bowls. Some of them are downright sub-mid if that's a word...Dilfer, Collins, Delhomme...

I remember that, but watch the video and tell me if that's what he communicates. It doesn't to me. He said 'year to year'. Maybe I'm wrong.....

[MaroonBells]

I remember that, but watch the video and tell me if that's what he communicates. It doesn't to me. He said 'year to year'. Maybe I'm wrong.....

Yeah, he said year to year, which is probably what a 2-year contract would sound like to a guy like Cousins. They wouldn't have even been talking if the offer was just one year. That's an offer that wouldn't make sense for either side IMO. Plus, several sources confirmed it was a 2-year offer.

[medaille]

Dianna Russini
@DMRussini
The Vikings made Kirk Cousins an offer for more than one year that included guaranteed money in year two, sources tell
@alec_lewis and me. Ultimately, the Falcons’ offer exceeded how far Minnesota was willing to go. The team is now focused on maximizing a flexible future.

---

I think teams are under the impression that you can do well with mid QBs if everything else is right. Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Brock Purdy, Jimmy G, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck are just a few examples of who I would consider "mid" QBs who played in Super Bowls. Some of them are downright sub-mid if that's a word...Dilfer, Collins, Delhomme...

Yeah, I’m not saying that these guys aren’t capable of getting to a SB.  I’m just saying the odds aren’t great, and if heaven forbid, you’ve got Daniel Jones/Kirk Cousins/Geno Smith on your roster and you’re looking at choosing between one of the many QBs in a generational draft for QBs or literally any other position, take a swing at the QB.  You probably aren’t one non-QB player from a SB.  Your odds are just so incredibly better once you have the right QB, and there’s plenty of years where you just won’t have access to a draftable QB, so round out your roster those years.

[FLVike]

I'm just happy he left. There was absolutely no way he was taking us to the Superbowl. Now we have hope.

[ArizonaViking]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/4569...l-penix-jr

"Kirk Cousins felt 'misled' after Falcons drafted Michael Penix Jr."

Yep, that's life in the big city, nothing is guaranteed. You went for the bag and got it, can't look in the rearview now. He says he was hurt and if affected his play....ok....but the organization inserted Penix and haven't looked back. You'd think if they thought his poor play was injury-related only they'd have a competition this year for the starting job. Cousins is a competitor so I'm sure this is a blow to his ego, but they named Penix this year's starter many months ago. My guess is its for a reason.

Kirk took the boat load of money under the same impression that he could do it to Atlanta the same way he did it to Minnesota.  He believed he got the brink's truck again and walked himself into a starting quarterback position without question.
Reality than came around at draft time with Penix and later lost his starting position to him.  More than likely, he will eventually be released and scurrying for another team for a lot less cash.

[Bunsen82]

Dianna Russini
@DMRussini
The Vikings made Kirk Cousins an offer for more than one year that included guaranteed money in year two, sources tell
@alec_lewis and me. Ultimately, the Falcons’ offer exceeded how far Minnesota was willing to go. The team is now focused on maximizing a flexible future.

---

I think teams are under the impression that you can do well with mid QBs if everything else is right. Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Brock Purdy, Jimmy G, Rex Grossman, Matt Hasselbeck are just a few examples of who I would consider "mid" QBs who played in Super Bowls. Some of them are downright sub-mid if that's a word...Dilfer, Collins, Delhomme...

You can do well with game manager QB's if you are paying them game manager or cheaper money.   When you are paying them high end QB money it completely negates the money advantage that you can spread to other positions.   Kirk has been paid like a top 10 QB.     Atlanta was truly stupid in my opinion.  They paid for the QB,  and drafted the QB - negating the advantage of having a QB on a rookie scale contract.   Its also why Kirk was under the impression they would utilize a 1st to help the roster.  Now with his injury,  it probably was in the Falcons best interest long term to draft Penix.

[pattersaur]

I'm just happy he left. There was absolutely no way he was taking us to the Superbowl. Now we have hope.

Bingo. Some folks seem to be rewriting history a tad but there were a LOT of people on this board who both wanted Kirk here longer and were confident that's exactly what would happen.

It was past time to move on but I'm glad the Vikings did. Like you said-- Now we have hope. Will that work out I don't know but it's the first time in a long time the Vikings have given a QB prospect like this a chance to show what they can do. I'm expecting a fun year.

[medaille]

Two things. I don’t think the money is that important to Cousins. I think it’s more that he values himself as a starter and wants a team that will commit to him as a starter and not just a stop gap, but obviously if you’re valued as a starter, you should get paid like a starter, and no reasonable person should think that Cousins should get paid less than Daniel Jones or Trevor Lawrence. I’m unreasonable though in that they’re all overpaid. The weird thing is that guys like Cousins (guys you don’t want to commit to long term) cost more than the elite guys, because of the short contract length. Guys like Mahomes or Hurts got these massively long deals that allow the team to take low cap hits for many years, whereas a guy you don’t want to commit to you have to pay that more up front.

From a team building perspective, in this day and age, the money isn’t that important. I used to think it was. I’m now on the cap is a myth team. Inflation in the cap just massively dominates the salary cap math. You’ll have to pay the piper someday, but the timescales are just so long that it doesn’t really matter, as that problem is like 2 GM’s after you’s problem. I think the bigger thing is just spending years with mediocre talent at the most important position in sports.

[MaroonBells]

Bingo. Some folks seem to be rewriting history a tad but there were a LOT of people on this board who both wanted Kirk here longer and were confident that's exactly what would happen.

It was past time to move on but I'm glad the Vikings did. Like you said-- Now we have hope. Will that work out I don't know but it's the first time in a long time the Vikings have given a QB prospect like this a chance to show what they can do. I'm expecting a fun year.

You bet I would've taken Cousins on a 2-year deal over Darnold. We still would've drafted McCarthy, but likely would've had some nice draft capital for the 2025 draft by trading Cousins after the first year.

We’ve heard repeatedly that the Vikings offer included guaranteed money in the "2nd year," and ONLY in the 2nd year. In a trade, the acquiring team takes on all guaranteed money. So to me that’s the big “tell” in the Vikings intentions—a tell that Kirk likely saw as well when he dismissed it as "year to year."

In a perfect world, the Vikings draft their QBOTF and Cousins plays well in 2024 (probably as well as Darnold did, maybe even better), giving them a valuable, under-contract trade asset AND their franchise QB. It’s just a shame it didn’t work out. We may have had an extra 1st rounder this year, or at least a 2nd rounder.

The Eagles basically won a Super Bowl by turning Carson Wentz into the draft assets that allowed them to acquire DaVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, AJ Brown and Cooper DeJean. That's what I was thinking. And I suspect KAM may have had that in mind as well. We were never going to offer Kirk the offer he got from the Falcons, so it's kind of a moot point. But I understand why they made the 2-year offer.