Extend Cousins or ... ?

That is a fair point, but on that note, I do wish we'd do a better job with our backup. Mullens isn't the answer, and we paid draft capital to get him. Those are some of the WTF things I don't quite get. I do get that they took a look at Mond and said No thank you... but giving up a pick. Yes, I know. It was a 7th. But if VikingsBoss can constantly scream don't draft a kicker ever, even with a 7th, than I can whine about spending a 7th on a guy that if he plays you're screwed anyways. Just keep Mond around a year and find a replacement the following season. hahaha.. back to your point though, we've had some terrible luck in that area. And Cousins has been ridiculously durable behind a fairly bad OL. There is value in that given his performance.



This is why I am fairly certain we are going to do something this season. Having the option to draft a second rookie next season is nice. I'm not against that either. And I really don't like renegotiating with Cousins on his terms.



I wanted something to quote that wasn't your chart... just a bit too big. I'm somewhat curious how EPA is used in relation to Carr and Mayfield who changed teams (in Mayfield's case once during the season too)... but what I will say after reading the chart is that I am pretty skeptical of EPA being useful as a QB stat. Purdy, for instance, didn't play in 20 and 21, and his overall numbers were pretty bad in 22 by just about any metric. I suspect his numbers say more about who was around him and what he was asked to do than his play.



For how long? He's 35 this season. He's already showing signs of wear as he had issues this year making throws he's been able to make consistently. I personally doubt Cousins makes it to 40 in the NFL, so that decline will come... and for all the talk about his durability, that tends to decrease with time too. The point being is that at some point, we do have to switch to someone younger, and the last thing we want to do is be forced to make the switch while paying for guarantees for a guy who finally got hurt or whose skills dropped off and is suddenly unable to perform at 40M/year kind of standards (which I personally think are too high to begin with). I would be comfortable going year to year with Kirk and tacking another year on to his current deal for succession planning in what looks to be a deeper draft class, but his team wants a longer deal as it will be his last, with guarantees I might add. So now someone has to make that tactical decision.