Cousins, Vikings to guarantee lots of pressure
Quarterback’s contract could alter free agency
Raise your hand if you saw Kirk Cousins, of all people, making history as the first NFL player in this era to land a fully-guaranteed, multi-year mega contract.
Not Tom Brady. Not Aaron Rodgers. Not Cam Newton. Kirk Cousins.
That’s no knock on Cousins, 29, who entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick out of Michigan State and is now, with zero playoff wins on his resume, the prince of free agency.
He made the system work for him as the rare starting quarterback in his prime to hit the market. Here’s to the virtues of sweet timing.
Poised to sign a three-year, $84 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings, Cousins is in line to become the NFL’s highest-paid player by average salary, with a $28 million-per-year figure that tops the $27.5 million plateau that Jimmy Garoppolo achieved recently with the San Francisco 49ers. More notable, however, is that multiple reports indicate his deal includes the distinction that players and the NFL Players Association have for ages viewed as the next frontier on the pro football business landscape: fully guaranteed.
Just like so many Major League Baseball players have and like NBA stars get.
“Kirk Cousins is a hero to all the young players that will follow after him,” Seattle Seahawks star receiver Doug Baldwin tweeted. “Now we need more players to bet on themselves until fully guaranteed contracts are the norm and not the exception.”
Time will tell whether Cousins goes down in history as a free-agency pioneer like John Mackey or Curt Flood, but Baldwin’s point surely resonates.
As the opening of the NFL’s new year on Wednesday buzzed with Cousins’ visit to the Vikings’ headquarters, the Arizona Cardinals cut ultra-versatile safety Tyrann Mathieu. In August 2016, Mathieu signed a five-year, $62.5 million extension – and coming off major knee surgery at that – yet now is dumped after apparently refusing to take a pay cut.
Remember when the market opened three years ago?
Ndamukong Suh, the stud defensive tackle, bolted to the Miami Dolphins on a six-year deal worth more than $114 million. Now Suh is a fresh cap casualty.
That’s stone-cold NFL business. Mathieu and Suh indeed had significant guarantees, of $40 million and $60 million, respectively, but they also fell significantly short of collecting every dime on their mega deals – which is why Cousins’ deal is so special.
It will also add an element to upcoming talks for new deals for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Rodgers, the Packers star, both of whom will surely command bigger deals than Cousins’ pact as the $30 million-a-year barrier beckons.
So it’s the Vikings taking the bigger risk, with Cousins in line to become their sixth opening-day starting quarterback in seven years.
Minnesota advanced to the NFC title game with Case Keenum filling in for an injured Sam Bradford, while Teddy Bridgewater recovered from the previous year’s knee injury.
All three are gone now, with Keenum headed to Denver (multiple reports indicate the deal is for no more than $20 million a year), Bradford relocating to the Cardinals for $20 million on a oneyear deal and Bridgewater off to the New York Jets.
The Vikings are banking on Cousins at a much higher price, setting up a Super Bowl-or-bust standard.
Addressing the expectation of such quarterback action during the combine, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer acknowledged, “It’s important … that we pick the right guy that is going to help us continue to move forward. If we don’t do that, then I’ll probably get fired.”
That’s a man with a reality check. But he’s not alone.
Is Cousins worth the huge dollars? We’ll see.
Regardless, the big contract comes with the pressure of living up to the attached expectations. To this point, Cousins has exceeded the marks set for him – and with the new deal and franchise tags the past two seasons will average more than $25 million per year over five seasons.
Yet for all of that, Washington let him walk – only to watch him sign the type of deal with the Vikings that Dan Snyder and Co. have been known to bestow on free agents.
You can’t blame Cousins for picking Minnesota. He’ll be surrounded by an awesome defense. He can throw to great receivers in Pro Bowler Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. There’s a prolific running back in Dalvin Cook.
There are no excuses for not winning big. And that’s another type of guarantee.