Kirk Cousins: Vikings were 'very unlikely' to draft QB if he re-signed

When Kirk Cousins left the Minnesota Vikings in March, multiple reports indicated the team told him they would possibly select a quarterback in the NFL Draft, even if he had stayed.

Cousins, however, disputed those reports. The new Atlanta Falcons quarterback said the Vikings didn't tell him that they planned to draft a quarterback when they were still negotiating a new deal, he told The Athletic's "Scoop City" podcast.

"I don't think they were ready to go there yet in March," Cousins said. "I think the reality is just that they wanted to give themselves that flexibility. And I remember [Vikings coach] Kevin [O'Connell]'s words, which I'm not going to hold them to, were, ‘Hey, if we sign you back, I would think it's very unlikely that we would draft somebody.' It was something to that effect. 

"But I also know in the league things change. So, even if he says that, it's not like I'm going to hold him to that. But his approach was, ‘I just don't see us doing that if you're back.'"

Cousins suffered an Achilles tear in his final season in Minnesota, which caused the Vikings to slip down the standings and finish 7-10. As a result, they went into the offseason holding the 11th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, which was set to be the Vikings' highest draft selection since 2015.

As Minnesota was slated to pick right outside the top 10, O'Connell told Cousins shortly after the season that the team wanted to use the opportunity to select a quarterback from a deep draft class, but he still wanted the veteran to start in 2024, ESPN reported earlier in July. A report from Sports Illustrated in May said the same thing. 

While Cousins denied those reports, he admitted that the Vikings' transparency about not making a long-term commitment to him was a driving force that caused him to leave Minnesota.  

"I just felt it had been — and was going to be — basically one year, one year, one year," Cousins said about his contract situation with the Vikings. "I felt like, ‘Yeah, maybe I do want to play in Minnesota another five or six years, but it's going to be on one-year contracts.' That's the plan they've chosen that they wanted to walk. I thought, ‘OK, I don't really want to do that. I'll do it if it's my only option.'"

Cousins, who turns 36 in August, wound up getting a four-year, $180 million deal from the Falcons in free agency that included $100 million in guaranteed money. Even though the Vikings weren't willing to give Cousins the long-term commitment he would've liked, the veteran quarterback said he wasn't necessarily seeking to leave Minnesota. 

"I did feel like I had a great thing going with Minnesota, so it was really going to take a really special opportunity not to continue with Minnesota, and that's really what Atlanta provided when I looked at the roster and what we would have here on the field and off the field," Cousins said. "Certainly a big change, but feel good about where we landed."

Of course, the Falcons wound up doing what the Vikings reportedly would've done had Cousins remained in Minnesota. Atlanta selected Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick, just two selections before Minnesota traded up to select J.J. McCarthy. 

Cousins compared Atlanta's decision to draft Penix after signing him to when he was drafted the same year Washington added Robert Griffin III with the No. 2 overall pick. As the dust has settled on the Falcons' stunning draft selection, Cousins knows he needs to compete in order to hold a starting job.

"You know anything can happen, things change quickly in this league," Cousins said. "If I've learned anything in 12 years, it's that there's not much entitlement. You've got to earn your way and you never know what could come next."

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