As quarterback Kirk Cousins moves closer and closer to his second trip to unrestricted free agency, the Vikings still have roughly three weeks of exclusive (but for Scouting Combine tampering) negotiating rights. One specific contractual wrinkle is reportedly non-negotiable.
According to Albert Breer of SI.com, the Vikings are not willing to give Cousins a fully-guaranteed contract.
From the time Cousins signed in Minnesota, his contracts have been fully guaranteed. It started with a three-year deal. Multiple short-term extensions took it to a six-year relationship.
Breer also reports that the Vikings “touch[ed] base” with the Cousins camp last week. If the goal is to work something out, they need to be doing something more than touching base at this point.
The obvious takeaway is that the Vikings are willing to see what else is out there for Cousins, who is 35 and still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. The risk is that, if the Vikings wait too long to make a move, Cousins can decide to go wherever he wants — even if another team offers less than what the Vikings will do only after another team steps up.
That’s the most important thing to remember here. The Vikings cannot use the franchise tag on Cousins. He can sign wherever he wants to sign, with whoever wants to sign him.
So who will it be? Six years ago, it was ultimately the Vikings and the Jets. This time around, the Cousins camp will be finding out soon whether the Falcons or the Commanders or the Raiders or some other team will make Cousins an offer he won’t refuse.