Has Kirk Cousins played his final snap as quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings?
Cousins tore his Achilles during his team’s win over the Green Bay Packers this past weekend, ending his season and perhaps putting a period at the end of his tenure with the Vikings.
The 35-year-old is set to be a free agent this spring, and there has been plenty of speculation that he will be playing his football elsewhere in 2024. The fact that he now has a very severe injury on his resume has only further fueled that conjecture.
However, Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell is hoping to have Cousins back next year.
“Kirk Cousins is going to be healthy again,” O’Connell told reporters, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “I know he’s going to be a free agent after this season, but Kirk knows how I feel about him and that will be something, you know, that hopefully will work itself out. … You guys know how I feel about Kirk. Kirk knows how I feel about Kirk. I think he was playing as well as anybody in the National Football League.”
Cousins was certainly enjoying a fantastic campaign, as he was leading the NFL in both completions (216) and passing touchdowns (18) before going down for the season. In addition, he had totaled 2,331 yards while completing 69.5 percent of his throws and posting a passer rating of 103.8.
The Michigan State product was originally selected by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft and spent the first six years of his career in the nation’s capital before signing with the Vikings in 2018.
Since landing in Minnesota, Cousins has made three Pro Bowl appearances and was well on his way to a fourth this season. He has also thrown 30 or more touchdown passes three times and was on pace to record 38 of them this year.
The knock against Cousins has been his inability to lead the Vikings deep into the playoffs, as Minnesota has not made it past the Divisional Round since he arrived. The Vikings actually made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game with Case Keenum under center the season prior to signing Kirk Cousins.
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