While we wait for the 2020 NFL season to officially end when the Super Bowl LV starts on Sunday afternoon, the off-season rumor is starting to spin, and today a prominent NFL analyst has made a rather bold statement involving the Minnesota Vikings .
It looks like it’s going to be Cousins in San Francisco, but either way, I still think Jimmy G is starting to open up to the Pats. ♂️
– Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) February 1, 2021
Ross Tucker, who currently works as an NFL analyst for Westwood One (among other jobs), said a few hours ago that “it looks like” Kirk Cousins will be the defender of the San Francisco 49ers in 2021. Saying that would come as a shocking development is an understatement, especially considering the rest of what Tucker said.
Tucker says Jimmy Garoppolo, who is currently the starting quarterback for the 49ers, will be the starting quarterback in New England next year. You would have to think that if the Vikings They were to negotiate Cousins for San Francisco that Garoppolo would be a part of the return going back to Minnesota. Otherwise, if you are the Vikings, you not only committed to preparing a quarterback in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but you also committed to starting that quarterback immediately. . . unless you think Sean Mannion or any random veteran the Vikings could take from the agency would be the answer.
(They are not the answer.)
To be clear, I don’t think the Vikings are making a move with Kirk Cousins. But if they are so inclined, they need to do this relatively soon. As we mentioned in this space before, if Cousins is on the Vikings list on the third day of the 2021 league year in March, then his salary for 2022 becomes guaranteed. Basically, if Vikings want to get rid of Primos’ contract, they can’t just hang around and see what happens.
Is it possible to exchange cousins? Of course it is, I think. At this point, almost anything is possible. I think it is likely? Do not.
As Ted put it in the most recent episode of Vikings Report with Drew and Ted, at this point Cousins is the guy from Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman. These two guys are tied to Kirk Cousins and will go wherever Cousins’ right arm takes them. . .if it’s for the Super Bowl, the unemployment line or something in between. Vikings seem to be ready to “go for it” in 2021 with the hope that the guys they lost to injury in 2020 (Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, Anthony Barr, et al) will be able to strengthen the defense enough to let this team win the way Mike Zimmer wants it. They are not doing this with a novice quarterback or a veteran who, frankly, is not as good as Kirk Cousins.
God knows we need something to talk about this off season, with the draft still more than two months away and the free agency looking more and more like something the Vikings will not be big players on. I suppose this is as good as anything.