Extension for Cousins

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They damn well better shore up the OL now.

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Not sure if he freed up enough to get us in the Joe Theuny sweepstakes. Maybe another extension/redo is coming? Harry? Rudy? 

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Ian Rapoport

@RapSheet

The #Patriots with an interesting move: They are franchise tagging standout Joe Thuney. This allows them to keep him… or trade him.

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@"BarrNone55" said:

Ian Rapoport

@RapSheet

The #Patriots with an interesting move: They are franchise tagging standout Joe Thuney. This allows them to keep him… or trade him.

I did hope we had freed up enough space to get in the Thuney sweepstakes. I suppose most of it will be used on Bailey, Griffen, Alexander, Colquitt et. al.

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No word on Rick or Zim yet...

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@Wetlander said:
If spotrac has it right, we essentially lowered Cousins cap hit this season by 10 million (good), but locked ourselves into him for next season as well.  If his dead money is only 10 million in 2022, that will allow us to work out another extension to lower his cap hit or cut bait if we want.  The cap is projected to increase quite a bit in 2021 and 2022...

This seems like a good deal on the surface.

I wish you were correct, but I just read that his 2022 salary is guaranteed on the 3rd league day of 2021. So we'd basically have to cut him after THIS season (not the following one, unfortunately), or extend him further at some point, to alter that 2022 number. And if we cut him after this season, his 2021 cap hit is $31M. Ouch. Again, this is all if I'm understanding this all correctly.
The bottom line I see is that Kirk Cousins is our starting QB for the next 3 seasons, guaranteed. Barring a catastrophic collapse and total overhaul that would probably involve us sending out draft picks just to move him.
I'm not super mad about this, but I wish I felt happier about it than I do.

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Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota VikingsThe deal: Two years, $66 million
Grade: C+
If 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was licking his chops and waiting for his former Washington protégé to hit the market next offseason, the defending NFC champion coach will have to do whatever the opposite of licking his chops is for a couple more seasons. To help create cap space for their star-laden roster, the Vikings essentially committed themselves to Cousins through the 2022 season.
The structure of this deal is what keeps the Vikings in the Cousins business. As is the case with the Ryan Tannehill extension, Cousins has his 2020 and 2021 base salaries guaranteed now, while his 2022 base salary of $35 million becomes fully guaranteed at the start of next season. The Vikings could theoretically cut Cousins next spring, but they would still owe him $56 million in guaranteed base salaries over the next two seasons. The Antonio Brown trade reset our expectations of what teams are willing to absorb in terms of dead money, but Minnesota almost certainly isn't cutting Cousins.

Kirk Cousins is locked into Cousins for at least three more seasons. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

It's unclear whether Cousins will have a no-trade clause, as he did with his first contract. The Vikings could theoretically trade him without incurring a significant dead cap figure, at least in 2022, but Minnesota fans should prepare for three more years with him on their roster. In the end, he will take home $153 million over five years, which is a fine riposte to a Washington franchise which didn't think he was worth anything close.
This contract essentially keeps Cousins in the same ballpark we saw when he signed his first deal with the Vikings. At this point, it seems pretty clear that few people regard Cousins as a top-five quarterback, even if he's getting top-five money. It's also clear that he's good enough for the Vikings to win with, especially when they ramped up their play-action usage and installed a Shanahan-style rushing attack under Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak last season. Stefanski is now in Cleveland, so Kubiak will take over as the coordinator. This deal locks in a high floor for the Vikings, even if the ceiling isn't what you would hope for with this sort of money and guarantee. That's about an average deal.

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1239556007195484162

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@StickyBun said:
Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota VikingsThe deal: Two years, $66 million
Grade: C+

C+ is how I feel. Kirk's really good. And I'm glad we have a good QB. But greedy me wants more, and I was excited by the remote possibility of shaking things up. Instead, this signals to me it will be status quo for a few more seasons.

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No trade clause not included I'm hearing.  10 mil dead cap hit in last year if he's cut.  A lot but not as bad as 45 mil if he's sucking enough to get cut.@"BarrNone55" said:

@Wetlander said:
If spotrac has it right, we essentially lowered Cousins cap hit this season by 10 million (good), but locked ourselves into him for next season as well.  If his dead money is only 10 million in 2022, that will allow us to work out another extension to lower his cap hit or cut bait if we want.  The cap is projected to increase quite a bit in 2021 and 2022...

This seems like a good deal on the surface.

Regarding the future cap numbers: Are we certain they will jump up? I think the tv contracts are not done. What am I missing?

They've never gone down and there will be 17 games starting in 2021.   The whole reason for that and the 2 extra playoff games was more $.