Free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins + free agent head coach Bill Belichick = ???

Belichick has already gone separate ways with the New England Patriots, while Cousins' deal with the Minnesota Vikings terminates in March. Will the two perhaps partner up at their next destination? To hear Cousins tell it, he certainly wouldn't mind it.

“I'm not going to turn down an opportunity to play with a future Hall of Fame coach,” Cousins told CBS Sports' Isabel Gonzalez.

Vikings, Kirk Cousins injury, Joshua Dobbs,

“Great respect for him as a coach, like everyone else in pro football,” the QB continued. “If you go to that many Super Bowls, win that many Super Bowls, go to that many conference championship games, have the defensive production that he's had for years and years, it says it all.”

But Cousins cautioned that “we'll have to see where March leads,” citing “a lot of unknowns right now.”

Cousins' health a major factor

Most prominent among those unknowns is the health of Kirk Cousins for 2024.

The passer tore his Achilles during Minnesota's Week 8 defeat of the Green Bay Packers. Some teams will be hesitant of signing a QB who will be 36 by the time next season starts coming off such a serious injury.

For his part, Cousins doesn't seem concerned about his ability to recover and play at a high level again.

“I certainly want to play a few more years of football, so I'm hoping that in the remaining years left before me and my football career that I won't be sitting around watching playoff football, but that I'll be playing playoff football,” he said. “That's certainly a goal up ahead.”

But it does sound like Kirk Cousins would rather have a Belichick defense backing him than facing one.

“You always know when you play (Belichick) that you are kind of looking over your shoulder wondering if what you are seeing is correct…that's probably what has made him a great coach.”