Kwesi's Approach

The Cousins move makes no sense. Just extend him they are going to pay him 28.5 million next year NOT to play here. If they don't extend him he will be a FA and looking at what Jones and Carr got Vikings will end up paying WAY too much money for him to stay here. Kwesi keeps outsmarting himself taking Cine instead of Hamilton and ALSO giving DET Jameson WTF? Now he outsmarted himself on whatever he is doing with Kirk this year SMH!!!

IN FACT KWESI SHOULD HAVE EXTENDED KIRK BEFORE THE JONES AND CARR DEALS HE WOULD SAVED THE TEAM A LOT OF MONEY!

I don't believe the Carr and Jones deals affected Cousins all that much, Kirk was already making $35M and probably asked for $40M+ just based on how much the likes of Stafford, Murray, and Watson are making. I also think that the impasse in contract talks have been caused by Kirk's demand for guaranteed money, while KAM wants flexibility in the future.

I was actually curious about how they paid out SBs awhile back and the internet said it usually happens about a year after they sign.

You mean we have a GM not being held hostage by Kirk's agent for once. Refreshing.....

I guess I don't typically expect a lot from backups. They're backups for a reason. I get your point to some extent, the question is more of who do you replace them with for a comparable cost since there's a cap involved? We've been up against the cap for each of the last 2 seasons, so it's not like we could go out and spend a ton... and I guess you're not really bashing the FA moves all that hard... so there's that :)

As for Cousins, I'm not sure. I haven't heard if the void year thing this year was something he agreed to this offseason or something he agreed to last offseason as a part of his contract extension. Those are 2 big distinctions, because it's possible the language of his contract allowed for them to do what they did by simply emailing him and telling him that his bonus was going to be converted to a signing bonus with some void years. So I'm not quite sure your logic flies that they could have done the same thing last year.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if this extension was effectively negotiated last year as well with the language in his extension.

The other part of your equation is also problematic. The FO had no clue in 2022 that Derek Carr would be available in 2023 and for that price. His contract (to your point) isn't unreasonable, though you left out a significant 2025  dead cap hit due to his 2025 10M guarantee and the remainder of his 28M signing bonus also accelerating if he's cut, and that's potentially a lot more should he get injured in 2024 as well, because the 2025 salary is then fully guaranteed, and Carr has not been as durable as Cousins. That also assumes he chooses MN over NO if we offer the same contract. As a general rule, if we're bidding against NO and the Jets, the price probably goes up. 

As for Pickett, perhaps you're right. It will be a year or two yet before we will have a good idea. I know that I wasn't a fan going into the draft, but then again, I'm no expert there and I'll freely admit that. Time will tell 

pretty sure the cap hit alone ended that option.