After the meeting, Cousins said he “had a great visit”.
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In 2017, Cousins posted another 4,000 yard passing season.
But after Cousins and the team couldn’t agree to a long-term extension during his breakout 2015 season, negotiations became increasingly strained. That means Cousins will receive the entire balance of the contract regardless of whether he is injured or the team opts to cut him for poor performance. They last made the Super Bowl in 1977 and have never won a Super Bowl title.
Cousins was impressive again in 2016, though the team failed to reach the playoffs. Cousins’ record during that time: 24-23-1.
Given Bradford’s injury history, that’ll be about $10 million per start.
Long before the official open to the NFL’s free-agency period on Wednesday, deals were getting done and money was being thrown around like teams printed it on Tuesday.
The Redskins traded for Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith in January, putting the wheels in motion for Cousins’ departure.
“[He] wanted to know what we’re about as an organization”, Spielman said.
The Broncos balked at Cousins’ bargaining starting point Monday.
The Vikings are hoping Cousins could be the last piece to their championship puzzle.
The Vikings also have plenty of talent on offense with Kyle Rudolph, Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook. They have a solid running game, some good young receivers and a dominating defense.
Increasingly, the Vikings were seen as the frontrunners to land Cousins. Keenum is bound for the Denver Broncos. The Arizona Cardinals moved into position to sign Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon. The New York Jets will reportedly shift their attention to Bridgewater.
As we noted here, Teddy Bridgewater would be a reasonable fallback option for the Jets – presuming they could supplement him with other quarterback plans. Wilson eventually signed a four-year, $87.6 million extension but it wasn’t fully guaranteed.
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It’s hard to believe there is a fan base anywhere else in the National Football League that would excoriate such a move, and it’s painfully ironic that many lamenting the decision are the same people who in the summer can’t go two weeks without calling the Pohlads tightwads; now, suddenly, they’re anxious about having enough money to re-sign Jeremiah Sirles and extend Anthony Barr’s contract. The Vikings have been targeting Cousins for weeks and did not make much of an effort to retain Keenum. One of the stories circulating was a rumor Wilson would receive the first-ever, fully-guaranteed contract.
