The Vikings close out Tuesday evening with a restructure of the reigning, defending, champion of contract negotiations Kirk Cousins. This restructure does not keep Cousins in purple past the 2023 season, in fact it pretty much puts a nail in the coffin on any future contract extensions with Cousins and the Vikings by costing the Cousins-less Vikings $28 million against the salary cap in 2024. An extension would only balloon that number, making it highly unlikely at this point. Instead, this restructure frees up $16 million in cap space for the 2023 season and pushes the cost of those savings onto the 2024 and 2025 salary cap. So what does this mean for the Vikings this season and on?
Kirk Cousins: The King of A1 Quarterbacks
I’d like to start this story off with declaring something obvious. Kirk Cousins is an A1 quarterback. Now some of you may balk at this fact but some further explanation may make it make more sense. Cousins is not an A tier quarterback 1 amongst the players in the tier. Kirk Cousins is an A1 steak sauce quarterback. Cousins has consistently had a strong gravitational pull towards .500 nearly his whole career. Rumor has it Newton’s 4th law is on the strength of Cousins’ ability to pull his team towards .500. Cousins is incredible at making bad teams good, he can make the 2020 Vikings a close to .500 team despite the many holes on their roster and a 1 – 5 start to the season in the same way A1 steak sauce can make cube steaks taste edible. On the other hand, Cousins can have a loaded roster or a pretty good team and can never make them super bowl caliber, similar to how A1 on dry aged wagyu just doesn’t make a lot of sense. While a bottle of A1 steak sauce is far cheaper than $30 million+ annually, both A1 and Cousins fulfill a very clear and sometimes needed role and that is to ensure failure. If a steak is overcooked, throw some A1 on it! If a steak is under seasoned, throw some A1 on it, if your team has no defense and needs a good quarterback to win the division, throw some Kirk Cousins on it! Simply put, Cousins’ mediocrity is not reflected in his constant straining of the team’s salary cap for years.
Since 2018, the Vikings have been in constant defense mode for their salary cap management, partially due to the cap hit of Cousins. In 2020, Cousins signed a two year, $66 million dollar extension, setting up a cap hit of $45 million in 2022. In order to reduce his hit that season, current general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah elected to extend Cousins one more season for a one year, $35 million dollar extension. The contract also included void years which smooth out the cap hit but include a later cap hit while the player is no longer under contract. This sets up an issue that is plaguing the Vikings.
Kicking the Can (and the Bucket)
The Vikings have recently grown into a bad habit of “kicking the can down the road” with their salary cap. There have been several moves in recent history that is proof of this. Here are a few recent ones:
2023
Restructure Kirk Cousins
– Creates $28 million in dead cap next season
2022
Restructure Adam Thielen
– Increased cap hit to $14.4 million last season
Restructure Harrison Smith
– Created $6 million in cap space in 2022, added cap hit to future years
Restructure Danielle Hunter
– Added two void years to his contract at $5.6 million each year
2020
Signing Dalvin Tomlinson
– Contract included two void years at $2.4 million each year
While there are plenty of moves in between the moves mentioned, these are a few examples of the issue persisting with the Vikings. The team’s constant desire to “compete” has hamstrung the team’s possible future endeavors. This applies to 2023 and beyond with the announcement of Cousins’ restructure. In addition to the increased cap hit for next season, the restructure of Cousins makes it highly unlikely the team will elect to trade him, considering the fact that his cap hit would be $38 million in the unlikely scenario. Whatever move the Vikings make soon, it is imperative these moves help the team in the long term.
This Year or the Future?
The Vikings have been no strangers to making moves this off-season. With the signing of edge rusher Marcus Davenport, cornerback Byron Murphy and tight end Josh Oliver, the team is certainly trying to find players who can contribute this season and on. It appears the Vikings recognize the fact that their roster is not at contention level this year with their decision to keep Thielen’s dead money on their salary cap this season instead of next. There is a reason the Vikings currently have the 15th best odds to win next year’s super bowl. In order to keep their roster in position for the future, the Vikings need to stay away from their long and sometimes toxic relationship with kicking the can down the road.
This offseason has put the Vikings in a weird position given their seemingly contradictory moves. The team’s decision to shore up their trenches with Davenport and Oliver is textbook roster building, but the team’s reluctance to move on from the bloated contracts of aging players such as Dalvin Cook, Harrison Smith, Za’Darius Smith and more would provide the team with the cap savings created by the Cousins restructure. The difference is that the moves listed put the team’s financial state in a better situation in future years, not a worse one. Perhaps the Vikings have a move or two up their sleeves. The off-season never fails to be fun!
So what would you like to see the Vikings do? Would you like to see the team try to contend this year or move into a rebuild? Do you think the Vikings are prepared for life after Cousins? For all things Vikings, keep it right here on NFCNorthReport.com
