What is the most realistic trade destination for Kirk Cousins?

By: Jake Rajala

The Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, also known as “Captain Kirk”, has been heavily rumored to be shipped out of the Twin Cities. Cousins is heading into a contract season and it doesn’t appear that he will be on course for a long-term contract next offseason. 

Cousins is coming off a season where he posted his second-lowest passer rating as a Viking (103.1). After bringing the Vikings to two straight winning seasons in 2018 and 2019, the former Washington QB hasn’t helped the Dalvin Cook featured team claim a winning record in each of the last two seasons. Cousins has only made one Pro Bowl appearance for the Vikings, as well (two in his career). 

There have been “some” positives from the highly paid Vikings QB. Cousins did throw for 35 touchdowns last season and 33 passing touchdowns in 2021. He also had four game-winning drives in 2021, which was the most he’s had in a season since 2017. Still, he hasn’t won football games “when it matters the most” and he’s not a quality fit with a Vikings team that’s decaying on defense and on the offensive line. The Vikings OL was ranked 24th by PFF in late November of last season and that was a generous ranking. On defense, the safety Harrison Smith is 32 years old and he will likely be the next great Vikings defensive back to leave (Xavier Rhodes being the most recent). 

Cousins is 33 years old, being overpaid, and he hasn’t proved that he can put the team on his back to win games. It will take time to rebuild the supporting cast around the QB situation and it will be difficult to retain the Vikings starting QB that has the “third-largest 2022 salary cap number” while rebuilding the roster.

The 8-9 Vikings from 2021 clearly have their sights set on restructuring their team and returning to post-season glory. The Vikings want to properly add talent and build around gifted players like Justin Jefferson and Cook. Mike Zimmer has already been dismissed from the organization. It appears that Cousins, who has failed to take the North North to the next step, could be the next face to lose key swiping privileges to the building. 

“Heavy.” has predicted Cousins to land with the Browns, while Sports Illustrated is convinced that the Broncos are the “top option” to acquire the Vikings QB. The Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was the former offensive coordinator in Minnesota, clearly has strong ties to Cousins. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos have a massive question mark at the QB spot and a boatload of cap money to solve it. The Browns and Broncos clearly make a lot of sense to acquire Cousins. All in all, we should expect a strong chance that Cousins is sent packing from Minny and that he will be playing for a different team in the 2022 season. 

With that said, what are most likely landing spots for Kirk Cousins? Well, I’m going to untwine five landing spots for Cousins that make the most sense. 

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have to be the best landing spot for Cousins that nobody is talking about. Russell Wilson seems fed up with the lack of support he’s been awarded since leading the Hawks to Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014. He isn’t technically requesting a trade yet, but he has already publicly stated via Ian Rapoport that he “wants to explore his options”. The odds in many eyes are that he finds his next home in New Orleans. If Wilson leaves, I don’t feel the sense that the NFC West squad will completely hit the reset button. The Seahawks could add Captain Kirk, a couple of pieces on offense, keep Jamal Adams, Carlos Dunlap, and Bobby Wagner, then hit the ground running in 2022. The Seahawks could extend Cousins’s contract after acquiring him and virtually save money “long term” by switching from Wilson to Cousins. 

Cousins can continue to very well light up the scoreboard with WR D.K. Metcalf and WR Tyler Lockett. It’s evident that the Seahawks have the toys in Metcalf and Lockett, who both combined for 20 receiving touchdowns in 2021. Seattle’s defense can complement Cousins better than the Vikings defense, as well. The Seahawks defense was ranked 11th in PPG allowed last season, while Minnesota’s defense was ranked 24th in the league. As widely enunciated, they have impressive chess pieces in Adams and Wagner. The captain of the defense Wagner has made eight Pro Bowls in 10 seasons. His age is ascending at 31, but that shouldn’t slow him down anytime soon. Demario Davis is 33 years old and coming off a second-team All-Pro season. The legendary Ray Lewis was a stud and key factor in his team winning the Super Bowl in his last season at age 36. The 27-year-old Jamal Adams is a monster and he will simply be around the rainy city for at least a few more seasons, too.

The Seahawks even have a very slightly better offensive line than the Vikings OL unit. In Week 15, PFF placed the Seahawks offensive line at 24, while the Vikings offensive line was a hair behind at 25. The OL position unit for both NFC teams is a work in progress still. If the Seahawks can add a couple of talented offensive line pieces and CB talent in the next few offseasons, the Seahawks can be a competitive playoff team with the middle-aged Cousins in the future. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers just snuck into the 2021 playoffs, but T.J. Watt’s game-wrecking ability wasn’t enough for the Steelers to overcome Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. So, the Steelers lost “big time” to the Chiefs and now they enter the 2022 offseason with an earth-shattering question mark at QB. 

Mike Tomlin has boldly stated that Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins will have an opportunity to start for the Steelers in 2022. Tomlin made the right statement regarding the two current Steelers QBs situation professionally speaking, but all options are honestly on the table for the future Steelers starting QB. 

The Steelers clearly have talent around the QB position and a modest starting QB is the only missing link. The Steelers made the playoffs with a bit washed-up QB that only threw 22 touchdowns in 16 games. Cousins may not only be able to replace Big Ben, but he could be a likely upgrade. The Steelers are 7th in cap space, so they may be able to ink Cousins. I wouldn’t be going on a limb to say I don’t expect Wilson in a Steelers uniform. It also is basically impossible that the AFC North Browns would trade Baker Mayfield to the AFC North Steelers. Cousins could be the top option for the Steelers on the trade market. 

The Steelers could realistically decide not to take the risk on Cousins, but find a cheaper option in free agency or a young QB to groom. The dual-threat QB Marcus Mariota would be a stout value pickup or the Steelers could look to make the selection and home run with the very athletic Ole Miss QB Matt Corral in the first round. 

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns and Browns General Manager Andrew Berry are tough to crack. Still, It sadly seems the former first overall pick Baker Mayfield isn’t a part of the disappointing Browns big picture. It would be ideal if the Browns sent Baker packing for draft compensation and took the Cousins jersey off the back of Vikings nation. Cousins can be the conservative QB that the Dog Pound has desperately wanted. We know that former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was an assistant Vikings coach from 2006 until 2019. Then the clean-cut head coach took over OC duties in 2019 and he would impressively help the Vikings climb to a 10-6 record and divisional round appearance. 

Similar to the Steelers, the Browns can be competitive with a smart, talented signal-caller. Cleveland’s football team had high hopes for good reason in 2021. The Browns carried Top 5 DE Myles Garrett, Top 5 Nick Chubb, and many other shiny pieces. Yet, Mayfield essentially threw away pivotal late-season games at ease. It seemed the Packers game and Browns loss was the nail in the coffin for Mayfield’s tenure in Cleveland. The Browns don’t want to take a step off the gas pedal, but rather find a quick answer at QB and make Browns fans not disgruntled again. To make matters worse for the Browns, they play in the absolute frigid AFC North division that held four 8+ win teams in 2021. They will need to be spot on with their big QB decision if they don’t want to be left in the dust.

New Orleans Saints

It’s sexy to imagine the Top 5 QB Russell Wilson joining forces with Sean Payton, Alvin Kamara, and Michael Thomas. Saints fans may see similar offensive production that they were given from Drew Brees with Wilson walking around and potentially celebrating on Bourbon Street. It would be a surprise if Mickey Loomis can’t help Wilson escape his personal Alcatraz, as well. Nonetheless, there needs to be an option B at the QB position for Who Dat Nation if the Wilson trade doesn’t come to fruition. The former Michigan State QB Cousins is quietly a smooth fit for Sean Payton’s short passing, balanced offense. Cousins is overwhelmingly a smarter choice for Payton than the Browns QB Baker Mayfield/poor man’s version of Brett Favre or 95% of the rookie QBs in the 2022 draft. 

The Saints need an accurate, sharp QB not named Taysom Hill and they need it now. Sure, Hill has been 6-2 as a starting QB in the last two seasons. But, it doesn’t look like Hill can be the Saints QB that can go blow for blow with opponents that yield Dak Prescott and Josh Allen. The Saints went from a regular Top 5 passing offense with Drew Brees to the 32nd ranked passing offense in 2021. It’s plain and simple. The Saints may revert to putting bags on their heads if the Saints passing offense is dead last ever again.

I really don’t foresee Payton taking a rookie QB not named Matt Corral in round one. And it doesn’t seem like the Saints will get their hands on Corral is a realistic, positive scenario in round one. He opted to hand the keys to Jameis Winston this season and I expect Payton returning to Winston to be the worst-case scenario in 2022. Winston had a “bounce back” type of season after being the worst NFL starting QB in Tampa Bay and then the clip holding QB behind Brees for a season. On the flip side, I would fully prepare for Payton being aggressive and finding a more talented QB to complement his Top 10 defense and rare weapons on offense. I believe Cousins would be a logical landing spot if Wilson doesn’t convert to the Black and Gold uniform. Some might say if the 9-8 Saints from 2021 had a healthy Kirk Cousins, they may be currently getting ready for a divisional round showdown in the dome. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I would love to proudly state the Buccaneers are the perfect “wildcard” team for Mayfield’s services. Bruce Arians likes to drink whiskey and roll the dice. This is of course BA we’re talking about. 

He knows that Tom Brady could retire after this playoff season or at the end of the next playoff season most likely (right?). If TB12 has finished his GOAT career, I wouldn’t be surprised if Arians would want to saddle up with his “win now” roster and find a new veteran QB to come out guns blazing in 2022 or 2023. 

The Bucs have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, Ronald Jones, Lavonte David, Ndamukong Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Devin White. Half of the profiles mentioned above likely won’t be playing for the Bucs in 2025. The Bruce Arians offensive scheme can nicely insert a lot of QBs (who don’t require Lasik eye surgery) that can put “madden numbers”. Arians may be tempted to find a QB like Cousins that can utilize the talent on the roster after Brady leaves soon. But, will Brady leave soon? That is a difficult question to answer.