Breakups are never easy, even between a franchise like the Minnesota Vikings and Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins. But now that Cousins is under center for the Atlanta Falcons and the Vikings have handed the reins to rookie J.J. McCarthy, the dust has finally settled, and the details behind the breakup have started to emerge, with things seemingly in motion for a while.
When Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell was interviewing with the Vikings, he was emphatic that he could build a winning offense with Cousins. However, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah also pressed O'Connell on his thoughts about the future at quarterback for Minnesota. Sure, the team wasn't looking to move on from Cousins then. But, when the time came, what was O'Connell looking for in a quarterback to succeed Cousins and, more importantly, lead the Vikings to their first Super Bowl win?
“What people don't understand about the quarterback-selection process,” O'Connell said. “It's that it's not just the quarterback themselves. It's: ‘What does the rest of the picture look like with that quarterback?'”
That methodology led to Minnesota not taking a quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft right after they hired O'Connell and only taking Jaren Hall in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. O'Connell's offensive scheme brought new life to the Vikings on offense, with the personnel surrounding Cousins to make him one of the NFL's top quarterbacks. But after a ruptured Achilles tendon midway into the 2023-24 season, the earlier conversations began to set the eventual breakup between Cousins and the Vikings into motion.
Why the Vikings were ready to move on from Kirk Cousins
Even with things in motion, members within the Vikings organization still hoped Cousins would remain the starting quarterback. No one wanted it more than O'Connell, who had built a genuine relationship with Cousins. People throughout the organization believed O'Connell had elevated Cousins' game and set him on a course for a late career, blossoming into a genuine top-10 NFL quarterback.
But with Cousins being so injury-prone and in his late 30s, along with the Vikings going 3-6 without him last season, the conversation regarding moving on from the quarterback came to a head, especially after Minnesota's record gave them a top first-round pick.
Things only got even heavier once Cousins, who wanted to finish his career in Minnesota, made it clear that he wanted his money guaranteed by the Vikings in a possible contract. That not-so-subtle demand was a non-starter for Minnesota, and when Atlanta swooped in with a contract that met what Cousins was looking for, the train left the station and never returned.
That train took Cousins to the Falcons, who signed him to a four-year offer, with two fully guaranteed years and part of a third, confirming that Atlanta wanted him as their long-term starter. Meanwhile, the Vikings checked in on Justin Herbert's availability but eventually moved on to sign Sam Darnold, who will serve as the bridge to McCarthy they had hoped Cousins would've been.
But Cousins didn't want to be a temporary quarterback. He wanted to be firmly entrenched as the long-term starter. Cousins wouldn't get that in Minnesota, which led him to Atlanta – especially after the Falcons made an offer the Vikings would never match.
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