Kirk Cousins Trade Rumors: How Realistic is a Deal With the Carolina Panthers?

The Vikings reportedly got a call on Cousins from the Panthers. What should we make of that?

The NFL offseason rumor mill is already in full swing. 

This is going to be a wild couple months when it comes to the quarterback carousel, with over a dozen big-name QBs potentially on the move and no shortage of teams in the market for a new signal-caller.

Obviously, one of the teams in the middle of it all is the Minnesota Vikings, whose new brass has a decision to make on Kirk Cousins. Up until now, all we had gotten in terms of updates were a wave of insider reports that the Vikings want to keep Cousins, plus a Kevin O'Connell press conference in which Minnesota's new head coach praised Cousins but left the door open for anything.

Now we've got our first trade rumor of sorts. According to SKOR North's Judd Zulgad, the Vikings received a call on Cousins from a team that he's beaten in dramatic fashion two years in a row.

"They have gotten a call," Zulgad said. "Now, from what I’ve heard, it went nowhere so far. But it’s interesting that the phone did ring at TCO [Performance Center] in Eagan and on the other end of the line...the Carolina Panthers. Quarterback-desperate. Panicked, I’m sure. I think if Matt Rhule and the Panthers don’t have a successful 2022, he’s probably going to be fired because that has not worked out. They cast their lot, in 2021, with Sam Darnold — didn’t work out. ... Now, the Vikings supposedly said ‘Hey, let’s put a pin in that conversation. We don’t plan to move him now.' But it makes sense that you would then try and drive things a bit."

“Putting the pieces of the puzzle together — Kirk’s demands, or refusal to take a pay cut — leaves me to believe that the Vikings at least would have the possibility of picking that phone back up."

What should we make of it all?

Zulgad is a well-connected analyst and reporter who used to cover the Vikings for the Star Tribune, so his reports have merit. But I think he would also caution against reading too much into this. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings are going to get calls on Cousins from the many quarterback-needy teams out there, just to gauge his potential availability and what it might cost to acquire him. They're also going to have those conversations in-person at next week's NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

That doesn't mean those talks will go anywhere. As Zulgad said, that was the case with this initial call from Panthers GM Scott Fitterer. 

The Vikings don't seem to be looking to move Cousins at the moment. Insiders like Ian Rapaport continue to present that case, over and over and over again. And there are legitimate arguments to keeping Cousins, like this one from SI's Albert Breer:

I believe Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah when they say Kirk Cousins is their guy, for now. Sure, it’s what the new Vikings coach and GM have to say. But O’Connell has coached Cousins before, likes Cousins, and Cousins sets up as the perfect sort of bridge quarterback that the team will need as it gets its new program off the ground. ... To me, Cousins could be to O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah what Alex Smith was to Andy Reid in Kansas City. Smith gave Reid five years of stability at the most important position, made the Chiefs a consistent playoff team and, just as poignantly, bought Reid time to find the next guy, where he never had to panic and overdraft some kid or overpay for a veteran. Eventually, Reid found one he loved in Patrick Mahomes, and by then the Chiefs had built great infrastructure for a young quarterback to enter into, which also gave them flexibility, without a ton of needs, to get aggressive and move up to get the Texas Tech phenom. In a certain way (and even though we don’t know whether Trey Lance will wind up being anything close to Mahomes), Jimmy Garoppolo did the same thing for Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. So is Cousins remaining a Viking in 2022, price tag and all, a bad thing for Minnesota? I really don’t think it is.

But I still don't think anything is off the table at this point.

The most likely outcome is that Cousins sticks around in Minnesota for at least the 2022 season, whether that's on the final year of this contract (potentially restructured to add void years) or after an extension that lowers his $45 million cap hit. Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell may want at least one season to see if the Vikings' new offensive-minded head coach can get more out of him than others have been able to.

But if a team like the Panthers — or the Steelers, Browns, Broncos, Colts, Saints, or Buccaneers — comes calling with the right offer, I don't see why the Vikings wouldn't consider it. They know what Cousins is at this point in his career, they know what his price tag is, and they might be willing to reset at quarterback if the return on a trade (draft picks received and salary cap space created) is enough.

For example, the Panthers aren't going to send the No. 6 overall pick in a Cousins trade like this PFF article suggests, but the Vikings should accept without hesitation if that were to be offered.

Buckle in, everyone. The season of reports, rumors, and speculation is fully underway.

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