More steam that Kirk Cousins, Bill Belichick could team up in Atlanta
Kirk Cousins could play for the Minnesota Vikings again next season but there appears to be growing momentum for the veteran quarterback to find a new home as he winds down his NFL career.
On Wednesday, Star Tribune Vikings insider Ben Goessling said Minnesota's front office probably won't "bat an eye" if the cost to trade up for a quarterback in the draft is multiple first-round picks. Just last week Cousins himself said he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to play for legendary head coach Bill Belichick.
And now ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has spoken to anonymous league executives, one of them being of the opinion that Belichick and Cousins could team up with the Atlanta Falcons.
Under a subtitle reading "Kirk Cousins and Bill Belichick will be Falcons ... and win the NFC South," Fowler wrote:
The feeling out of New England was that Belichick planned to target an established veteran quarterback for the Patriots in 2024. If he gets the Atlanta job, as some expect, he can follow a similar blueprint.
Cousins might very well re-sign with Minnesota, but if not, the Falcons offer several high-end skill players on offense and an improving defense -- they're the proverbial quarterback away. "[Belichick] can help a talented yet underachieving team, and Atlanta is that," an AFC executive said. "Cousins would be a great fit there."
“I’m not going to turn down an opportunity to play with a future Hall of Fame coach,” Cousins told CBS Sports’ Isabel Gonzalez on Jan. 18, “but we’ll have to see where March leads, there’s just a lot of unknowns right now.”
Over at The 33rd Team, former Vikings general manager Jeff Diamond predicted that it'll take $45 million a year to sign Cousins, who is expected to be one of the premiere quarterbacks on the market if he doesn't re-sign with Minnesota before free agency begins March 13.
It's hard to believe that the Vikings' season ended just 18 days ago and that just over two weeks ago Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said it's his intention is to bring back Cousins. But, like Cousins admitted, the unknowns outweigh the knowns and until the smoke clears the rumor mill will reign supreme.
Ex-Vikings GM predicts $172.5m Justin Jefferson deal to 'get done soon'
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.