Not A Diva, But 2023 Will Be Kirk Cousins’ Last Season With Vikings

The Vikings don’t have a diva for a quarterback. In fact, they have the opposite.

Kirk Cousins is happy just to be a Viking, and he is thrilled to be the team’s No. 1 quarterback for the 2023 season. Where the 34-year-old quarterback will be after the current season is anybody’s guess.

But while Vikings fans have at least some concern about future seasons, Cousins does not. If the Vikings want to sign him, he is open to it.

Unlike the former Green Bay quarterback who will try to play the role of savior for the New York Jets, Cousins is not pushing for a new contract with the Purple. He is happy to show what he can do with Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison and to see if the Vikings can match or exceed what they did last year when they won the NFC North with relative ease.

Cousins has absorbed a ton of criticism for a quarterback who is entering his 12^th year in the league and 6^th season with the Minnesota Vikings. The numbers are quite notable, as he has completed 66.8 percent of his passes and has a 252-108 touchdown to interception ratio.

He also goes to the post every week. In a league that features car-crash type collisions on an every-week basis, Cousins never fails to line up under center. This has to be worth something.

But the truth of the matter is that when it comes to the biggest games that Cousins plays, he has been ordinary or below average. He is severely criticized for Monday night performances, games against contending teams and postseason games.

This is not made-up stuff. This is the truth, and head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are going to have to do something about at the end of the 2023 season unless there is some kind of miraculous turnaround in the biggest games.

The belief here is that they could have secured their future by going after Hendon Hooker in this year’s draft. They would not have needed Hooker to do much more than observe and return to pre-injury shape in his rookie year. But Hooker had the best numbers of any quarterback coming out in the most recent draft prior to his ACL injury, and if he had not suffered his season-ending injury, Hooker probably would have come away with the Heisman Trophy.

If you look at the quarterbacks who are scheduled to be free agents after the upcoming season, you might understand why Cousins is smiling. He is by far the most accomplished of all the quarterbacks available.

The other names include Ryan Tannehill, Jacoby Brissett, Mitch Trubisky, Tyrod Taylor, Marcus Mariota and Sam Darnold. Tannehill is simply too old and battered, Brissett is a solid backup and the others are simply not good enough.

Cousins is going to make $35 million this season with the Vikings. If he can lead the team to another division title – probable – and at least one postseason victory, he could make even more next season. Teams will still need quarterbacks, and the draft class at the position is not overly deep.

Caleb Williams of USC looks like the real deal, and he could be joined by Drake Maye of North Carolina, J.J. McCarthy of Michigan and Michael Penix Jr. of Washington. But drafting a quarterback is always a crap shoot. Anthony Richardson was selected with the No. 3 pick by the Indianapolis Colts and his lack of success at Florida was alarming. He has not shown he is an accurate passer – 53.8 percent completion rate last season — and he could fall flat for his new employer.

Of course, the same could be said for top picks Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud. Great college quarterbacks have much to prove when they make the jump to the NFL.

Cousins is preparing for his 12^th year, and he has much to prove as well. If he doesn’t show sudden improvement in key games during the 2023 season, the team will almost be looking elsewhere to find their quarterback of the future.

Even if he isn’t a diva.