Kirk Cousins has long maintained that he wants to remain with the Minnesota Vikings in spite of his upcoming free agency, but his patience with the Vikings may be running thin.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said that Minnesota’s delay in offering Cousins a deal may push him to sign with another team, such as the Atlanta Falcons.

“I got the sense that, maybe, there was a little frustration that the Vikings have had a long time to try to work out a deal with Kirk,” Florio said. “You get to a certain point where you F around and find out, and you let it go too far down the tracks. Even if the Vikings will say, ‘Oh, wait. The Falcons are paying you that? We’ll match it,’ There’s a chance [Cousins’ camp is] going to say, ‘Sorry, you had your chance. They’re showing us love, interest. You’re just showing a begrudging willingness to match what we were able to get from somebody who really wants us so we’re going to go to the place where we think they really want us.”

Florio added that he gleaned this from a conversation Cousins’ wife had with his wife when Cousins made an appearance on Florio’s podcast.

The Vikings have said they prefer to keep Cousins, but not at the expense of their future financial flexibility. For that reason, there appears to be a gap between what Cousins feels he is worth and what Minnesota is actually willing to pay him, which could result in the quarterback playing his football elsewhere in 2024.

Of course, the Vikings do have legitimate reasons to be hesitant about re-signing Cousins.

The four-time Pro Bowler will be 36 years old by the start of next season, and he is coming off of a torn Achilles, widely regarded as one of the worst—if not the worst—injuries an athlete can endure.

So, Minnesota has admissible cause for concern, and given the fact that the club has never made it past the Divisional Round of the playoffs in the six years Cousins has been under center, it may decide that moving on to a younger signal-caller is the best course of action.

Florio also reported on Monday that Kirk Cousins was leaning toward signing with the Falcons, so this may all come to a head very soon.

Free agency officially kicks off next Monday.