Why re-signing Kirk Cousins would put extra heat on Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
The logical choice is to bring back quarterback Kirk Cousins. General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the rest of the Vikings front office would need to ace their next NFL draft if that happens, because this roster has plenty of holes.
The stink bomb the Vikings lit on their own field in the most important game of their goofy season Sunday night brought an unmistakable reminder that the organization has more than just a Kirk Cousins conundrum to address shortly.
There are a lot of holes in the roster.
The Cousins decision — the 35-year-old quarterback soon will be a free agent — directly impacts the business of fixing that. To put it more bluntly, if the organization re-signs Cousins, then General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah better improve his drafting acumen because money will be tight.
The complicated web the organization finds itself in calls to mind something Adofo-Mensah shared at the trade deadline. Cousins had just suffered a season-ending injury, creating a sense of doom. Adofo-Mensah was asked how Cousins’ strong performances leading up to his Achilles tendon injury would impact deliberations on whether to try and re-sign him this offseason.
“I think my want for Kirk to come back isn’t just a me thing,” he said that day. “It’s a negotiation.”
And there it is, folks. The essence of this entire discussion. What is the cost to bring back Cousins? That answer will have an undeniable effect on rebuilding the roster.
Purely in football terms, anyone who has watched the Great QB Shuffle of 2023 should want Cousins back. The carousel spun again Wednesday, with Nick Mullens getting the nod in the regular-season finale in Detroit — but does it even matter at this point whether it’s Mullens, Joshua Dobbs or Jaren Hall? Just make it end.
