Kirk, Or A Potential First Round QB in 2024?

In the two games before the injury, Cousins was playing some of the best football of his career. He threw for 652 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception while completing 76.3% of his passes. He led the Vikings to wins over the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers and was leading the NFL with 18 touchdown passes.

Everyone felt Cousins’ loss immediately when he went onto the cart last Sunday. The players couldn’t contain their thoughts for Cousins in the locker room.

“Kirk is everything on this team,” said Vikings safety Josh Metellus. “He’s everything.”

Harrison Smith played with Cousins through the tumultuous final years of the Zimmer era and also heaped praise on Cousins.

“He’s a dude,” Smith said. “Everybody in here loves him. He’s so much tougher than he gets credit for. He makes these throws and he stares down the barrel and he f—ing slings it in there. I feel for him. I feel for him.”

Dalton Risner signed with the Vikings in Week 3 and had a lot of praise for a man who became his teammate just over a month ago.

I’ve looked up to that man more than I’ve looked up to a lot of people in a long time. The man of character that he is, the man of faith that he is. The first thing I did when I came back in here was check on him and the first thing he asked was ‘Did we win?’ I’ve known the guy for five weeks but that’s a pretty special human being [and] a really selfless human being and someone that I would strive to be like for sure.

The words from the players ushered one vote of confidence to bring Cousins back next season. Then O’Connell gave a full-throated endorsement during Tuesday’s press conference.

You guys know how I feel about Kirk. Kirk knows how I feel about Kirk. I think he was playing as well as anybody in the National Football League and my biggest…one of the hardest parts about coping with this…[is] coping with the fact that I believe that he was experiencing his best season in the National Football League and where we could have gone as a team. Hopefully, we’re going to still get to that place, but I know without Kirk Cousins and that high level of quarterback play we were getting from here week in and week out, it’s going to be a challenge, but like I said, it’s one that we’ve got to accept and try to thrive.

If you’re keeping score at home, the players, the coaches and the general manager all want Cousins back. Vikings ownership hasn’t commented publicly on Cousins, but they probably want him back next season. Cousins told reporters in January that he wanted to finish his career in Minnesota, but he also said he had to “earn the right” to do so when contract negotiations fell apart last May.

“I want to be in Minnesota,” Cousins said. “That’s kind of a no-brainer. Hopefully, we can earn the right to do that.”

Everybody wants Cousins to return. However, Cousins will make the final decision on whether he has thrown his last pass for the Vikings.