Forum The Longship Extension for Cousins

Extension for Cousins

Vikergirl
Joined May 2013
2,907 posts
Rep: 678

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. — Robin Williams

Liked:
#1 · Mar 16, 7:56 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"Hawkvike25" said:
@"JimmyinSD" said: so I'm reading that it adds 2 years with 61 million of the 63 million guaranteed.   

2 questions:

So if it lowers the cap hit this year 10 million we have to assume that 10 million will be paid out over then next 2 years right?  so if he is looking at a 32 million average over the next 3 years can we assume that his hit next year will be over 35 million, closer to 37 to 40?  

also,  if this year was already guaranteed,  and his new deal has 61 of 63 guaranteed,   he is basically guaranteed his money for the next 3 years,  so essentially another fully guaranteed deal?

or am I missing some details?


https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/kirk-cousins-9915/ 

That should help answer your questions...I had to look it up to understand



its not as bad as I was anticipating,  but that 45 milllion for 2022 is guaranteed against injury so we better freaking pray that he doesnt get a major injury or we will be screwed.

Liked:
#22 · Mar 16, 9:16 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"Rigby" said: $45M cap hit in 2022? Wow.....
But what % of the cap would that be at that point? 

Could be a manageable %, maybe similar to today or avg for a top 10 qb

Hell, we might all still be in quarantine in 2022..

Liked:
#23 · Mar 16, 9:16 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"Rigby" said: $45M cap hit in 2022? Wow.....
Give it a minute. When a couple more deals get done, it will look modest. Or he'll be gone.
Liked:
#24 · Mar 16, 9:20 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"purplefaithful" said:
@"Rigby" said: $45M cap hit in 2022? Wow.....
But what % of the cap would that be at that point? 

Could be a manageable %, maybe similar to today or avg for a top 10 qb

Hell, we might all still be in quarantine in 2022..



2022 salary guarantees in March of 2021. Most likely a significantly higher cap in 2022 but still no guarantee of what it might be. I like Kirk, but that's an incredible amount to push two years out.

Liked:
#25 · Mar 16, 9:24 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

Vikings signed QB Kirk Cousins to a three-year, $96 million contract.Cousins was entering the final season of his three-year, $84 million contract, but the Vikings didn't want to play games with their franchise quarterback It's a two-year, $66 million extension, one that will lower Cousins' 2020 cap number. He'll now be under contract through the 2022 season, and we can assume he'll be near the top of the quarterback market in annual salary. It's certainly debatable if Cousins has what it takes to get the Vikings over the hump, especially with an aging defense, but he'll collect his Sam Bradford-level paychecks while Minnesota finds out. To be fair, Cousins had his highest touchdown percentage (5.9) of his starting career in 2019 and is good enough to continually lead the Vikings to playoff appearances with the right supporting cast.

Liked:
#26 · Mar 16, 9:29 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"BarrNone55" said:
Vikings signed QB Kirk Cousins to a three-year, $96 million contract.Cousins was entering the final season of his three-year, $84 million contract, but the Vikings didn't want to play games with their franchise quarterback It's a two-year, $66 million extension, one that will lower Cousins' 2020 cap number. He'll now be under contract through the 2022 season, and we can assume he'll be near the top of the quarterback market in annual salary. It's certainly debatable if Cousins has what it takes to get the Vikings over the hump, especially with an aging defense, but he'll collect his Sam Bradford-level paychecks while Minnesota finds out. To be fair, Cousins had his highest touchdown percentage (5.9) of his starting career in 2019 and is good enough to continually lead the Vikings to playoff appearances with the right supporting cast.

Why the hell does Mike McCarthy need to comment on the Vikings...Once a Packer always a Packer.  F;ers.

Liked:
#27 · Mar 16, 9:32 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

Good for him, I like the continuity.  What are they at now as far cap space, I figure somewhere north of 30 Million?

Liked:
#28 · Mar 16, 9:33 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

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.

Liked:
#29 · Mar 16, 9:36 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"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?

Liked:
#30 · Mar 16, 9:39 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

They damn well better shore up the OL now.

Liked:
#31 · Mar 16, 9:40 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

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

Liked:
#32 · Mar 16, 9:43 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
The #Patriots with an interesting move: They are franchise tagging standout Joe Thuney. This allows them to keep him… or trade him.
Liked:
#33 · Mar 16, 9:46 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"BarrNone55" said:
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.
Liked:
#34 · Mar 16, 9:50 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

No word on Rick or Zim yet...

Liked:
#35 · Mar 16, 10:20 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"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.

Liked:
#36 · Mar 16, 10:40 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

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.

Liked:
#37 · Mar 16, 11:05 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
Liked:
#38 · Mar 16, 11:06 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"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.

Liked:
#39 · Mar 16, 11:14 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

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 $.   

Liked:
#40 · Mar 16, 11:25 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0
@"StickyBun" said:
@"purplefaithful" said:
@"Wetlander" said:
@"AGRforever" said:
@"SDCAVIKESFAN" said: More importantly,  how much cap space did it open up. 
none if its all gaurented correct?
It's not fully guaranteed.

I wonder if this means that Spielman and Zimmer will get short-term extensions to sync up with Cousins deal?



I had a million scenarios in my head on where RS/MZ extensions fit in with the QB's...I do think this means they're going to keep that band together another couple seasons.

Now they need to have an eye towards the future @ QB. How much do they value the upside of Hurts???



This is the year for Minnesota to take a swing at a raw guy with huge upside that can sit for a few years. Anywhere in round 2-5. 


I agree,  but its gonna Hurts Rick alot to spend that third round comp pick on a QB when he could easily trade if for a 5th and 2-7ths.

Liked:
#41 · Mar 16, 11:28 AM
Log in to reply.

Edit Post (mod action — author will see a notice)

Warn Poster

Suspend User (3 days)

The user will be suspended for 3 days and will receive an email with the reason and information about how to appeal.

Forum The Longship Extension for Cousins
Return to top ↑

Welcome to VikeFans!

Welcome back, Skol fans! This is our new home. Log in with your username or email and your existing password.


Be sure to check out the How To's and Questions forum for guides on getting around the new site, and use the Help Request forum if you run into anything that you need help with. Skol!