Murphy: Cousins to Atlanta is the best outcome for everybody

Brian Murphy writes how everything worked out for Cousins and the Vikings with the QB's exit

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By Brian Murphy

If there is a negotiating wing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Kirk Cousins has a gold jacket, cigar and monocle waiting for him in Canton.

Good for him.

Unwilling to be leveraged into submission anew by the quarterback robber baron, the Vikings cashed in their get out of jail card and will start over once again at the most expensive position in sports.

Good for them.

For all the teeth-gnashing, heart-thumping and handwringing that defined Cousins’ six-year residency in Minnesota, the end came antiseptically Monday with a social media post from his agent. Cousins digitally slinked out of town to grab $180 million in monopoly money, with $100 million guaranteed by the salivating Atlanta Falcons.

Aging owner Arthur Blank Check is chasing a Super Bowl championship, has no intentions to take all of it with him and gladly overpaid for the premier quarterback on the free agent market. He handed Cousins a four-year contract that could have the stats aardvark collecting a paycheck from the Home Depot founder until he’s 40. Doers do get more done, apparently.

Blank actually made the obvious choice so much easier for Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell, who have already begun shaping this tired and tattered roster through their shared vision (See: defensive makeover).

They just staked their job security on quarterback decisions made or not made over the next six weeks, which undoubtedly will impact this forlorn franchise for years.

It was high time to pivot from Cousins and the competitive rebuild Adofo-Mensah sold like a carnival barker when he arrived two years ago. The Vikings bought time by slow-playing Cousins throughout several contract negotiations in which neither side was committed to a relationship beyond playing expensive footsie under the dinner table.

The soon-to-be 36-year-old held all the bargaining chips, which he earned through short-term hardball, long-term durability and sleight-of-hand production that failed to carry Minnesota on a sustained playoff run.

His aw-shucks demeanor belied a tough-as-nails competitor who started every game for the Vikings until tearing his Achilles Oct. 29 at Lambeau Field without a defender anywhere near him.

Cruel irony considering how Cousins’ accuracy, acumen and downfield prowess behind a fiercely protective offensive line reminded everyone how lethal he could be during any regular season before his window of opportunity was nailed shut.

He was among the NFL leaders in yards, completion percentage and touchdowns when he was injured. No doubt watching him dialed in with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson made all those early season turnovers and lost opportunities in 2023 even crueler because of the what-might-have-been vibes that always stalk the Vikings.

Cousins was victorious in 50 of 88 starts in Minnesota, won the respect of the locker room and O’Connell in 2022 after being merely tolerated by former coach Mike Zimmer and helped lead the greatest comeback in league history against Indianapolis. It was one of 13 victories that won the Vikings yet another unfulfilling division championship.

But a mediocre performance against the inferior New York Giants in a miserable wild-card loss at U.S. Bank Stadium branded Cousins as an underwhelming postseason performer with his pedestrian 1-2 record in purple.

A deeply religious, charmingly dorky dad who embraced a refreshing family-first approach to his in-season routine, Cousins took too long to win over a tribal fan base that seemed to think he was the misunderstood second coming or a calculating wolf in sheep’s clothing.

All the Kirko-Chainz, white-man-overbite dance routines, Kohl’s shopping and Netflix image scrubbing did was humanize a shark just long enough for him to attack the next bargaining session. 

Kudos, Kirk. Squeeze every nickel out of the NFL vault that you can. Just don’t insult us with anymore it’s-not-about-the-money clichés. It’s always about the money.

The polarizing post-mortems will continue long after Cousins suits up for the Falcons, who are scheduled to play a home game against the Vikings in 2024 – either in Minneapolis or London. The schedule-makers should be tarred and feathered if they fail to bring Cousins back to U.S. Bank Stadium for a nationally televised soap opera. London’s for JV games.

Meanwhile, back at TCO Performance Center, the midnight oil will be burning in the bunkers as Adofo-Mensah and his staff scour the clearance rack for an immediate replacement for Cousins.

You have to believe the brass is going to draft a quarterback in the first round. Perhaps at No. 11. Perhaps trading up to snag one of the blue-chip prospects projected to go before the Vikings are slotted.

But is O’Connell really going to hand over the playbook to an unproven rookie or go into the perennial battle for nine wins without a veteran quarterback on the roster?

Bridge quarterbacks sound like a bigger cliché than game manager. Newly signed castoff Sam Darnold can be both. Besides there is something to be said for having an adult in the room who can protect a green horn from getting killed and make Sunday afternoon viewing palatable in the near term.

Enjoy the freshness of a rebuild even if it comes without the competitiveness. The Cousins era was worth the investment despite the underwhelming yield. All told, it proved more exhausting than exhilarating.

But it’s morning again in Eagan. Opportunity knocks. Time to finally let it in.

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Brian Murphy is a former Pioneer Press columnist and contributor to Purple Insider. Follow him on Twitter at @murphmedia_