The big news on the first day of NFL free agency was that former Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has passed up better offers from the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals to accept a $28 million-per-year deal with the Vikings. This is only the second NFL contract where all of the money is guaranteed for the three-year term. The Vikings also traded for Denver quarterback Trevor Siemian to back up Cousins (the deal includes a seventh-round 2018 pick for Minnesota and a 2019 sixth-round pick for Denver). The three free agent quarterbacks from the Vikings are each reported to have signed or be about to sign with new teams: Case Keenum with the Broncos, Sam Bradford with the Arizona Cardinals, and Teddy Bridgewater with the New York Jets.
I must admit, right up to the last second, I was still hoping Bridgewater would be one of our quarterbacks, even if the team didn’t want to risk having him be the unchallenged starter. Now I’m going to have to cheer for the Jets as long as Teddy is starting for them. This blow to the Bridgewater Underground may be fatal. If there’s any remaining activity among the surviving cells, I’ll keep you posted. After all, there was a second coming of Sir Francis, back in the mists of time. Maybe Teddy will also return to the Purple down the road.
As far as the other now-former Viking quarterbacks, if Sam Bradford can stay healthy, Arizona will get good value for the reported $20 million per year they’ve offered him. Sam’s not mobile even when his knee isn’t flaring up, but he’s got all the arm you could want for a pro quarterback. Keep him upright and he’ll take the Cardinals to good places. Case Keenum cashed in on the career year he had in 2017, starting 16 games (including both playoff games) and putting up very good stats. He’ll be earning roughly ten times as much in Denver as he did last season with the Vikings.
1500ESPN‘s Judd Zulgad explains the Vikings’ likely reasoning for the quarterback decision:
The Vikings could have played it safe at the quarterback position.
They could have decided to bring back Case Keenum as their starter, realizing he had reached folk hero status among many by going from career backup to the NFC title game in his first season in Minnesota.
They could have turned to Teddy Bridgewater, who after missing two seasons because of a catastrophic leg injury appeared on the road to recovery and remained a favorite of the coaching staff, players and fans alike.
Coming off a 13-3 season, if Keenum’s play had regressed or if Bridgewater struggled in 2018, general manager Rick Spielman could have shrugged his shoulders and claimed sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t. In either case, Spielman would have signed a quarterback for a very reasonable and safe price.
But the Vikings didn’t go the safe route. In fact, they did just the opposite.
On the same day that Keenum, Bridgewater and 2017 opening-night starter Sam Bradford reportedly agreed to or neared deals with the Broncos, Jets and Cardinals, respectively, the Vikings reportedly swung for the fences by reaching an agreement with Washington free agent Kirk Cousins on a three-year, fully guaranteed $84 million contract.
Is the 29-year-old Cousins worth that type of guaranteed money? That is up for debate. But quarterbacks of Cousins’ quality rarely, if ever, reach the free-agent market and by signing him the Vikings are sending a clear message that they are all in when it comes to winning a Super Bowl next season.
Having Cousins at Vikings practices will be a very different experience from last year’s set of quarterbacks:
“For people who know Kirk, he does things like this all the time,” El-Bashir said. “He yells on the practice field. If he throws a bomb over the starting left cornerback he will sprint down the field and yell in that dude’s face and taunt him. For him it’s kind of fun. The defense gets kind of tired of it by week 12, they want to kill him, but he thinks it’s funny and the coaches think it’s funny.”
