Kirk Cousins focused on earning contract extension from Vikings
Nothing has changed. Kirk Cousins wants to finish his career with the Vikings.
But herein lies the problem: He's not under contract beyond the 2023-24 season and he still feels like he has a lot of football left in him.
It's clear that Cousins would like a contract extension – and that remains a possibility – but he's focused on proving his worth despite being an established veteran who has thrown for 153 touchdowns in 80 starts since joining the Vikings in 2018.
"I think everybody's gotta do their due diligence," Cousins said Wednesday when asked about the Vikings not extending him yet. "I'm looking forward to this year and wanting to go out there and prove it again, do it again and play at the highest level I can. That's really where my focus is."
Cousins said all the right things. Instead of focusing on what he's done in the past he said "Nobody can operate with entitlement or comfort and put in less than their best."
"Teams can do whatever they want to do. That's their prerogative. You just go to work, do the best you can. I'm encouraged and excited because I do think I have a lot of good football ahead of me. Gotta go out there and earn that, but I feel positive about the future looking forward," he said.
Cousins threw for 4,547 yards and 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions last season. and completed 65.9% of his attempts for a 92.5 passer rating.
"This is my fourth time in this league going into a season with free agency on the horizon," he added. "It's more the norm than the exception. I think the exception is that you have something penciled in for future years. Most of our locker room has no idea what's coming in three or four months, let alone three or four years or next year. I feel like I'm one of the guys, if you will. We're all in this together and that's the way this league works."
Amid the uncertainty, Cousins doesn't want to think about playing elsewhere in 2024.
"No, I want to be in Minnesota. That's kind of a no-brainer. Hopefully we can earn the right to do that," Cousins said. "There's a lot of things I'd like to have but you gotta go earn that."
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.