Divorce Options for the Minnesota Vikings and Kirk Cousins

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Sep 20, 2020

Welcome to week two of the 2020 football season. Neither Zimmer nor Spielman will be around to see week 17, if the Vikings continue playing like this. Both guys signed new contracts in the offseason, but those don’t mean anything in reality. The Wilf’s can cut ties swiftly and without much consequence. That same thing can be said for much of their roster. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for Kirk Cousins.

According to Spotrac.com, Kirk Cousins will cost the Vikings $41 million in dead cap money, if they were to cut him before the start of the 2021 season. It balloons to a $60 million cap hit if they wait until after June 1.

Year	Cap Hit	Dead Cap (After June 1)
2020	$21 Million	$62 Million ($42 Million)
2021	$31 Million	$41 Million ($60 Million)
2022	$45 Million	$10 Million ($10 Million)

There is no chance the Minnesota Vikings cut Kirk Cousins without at least 30 more games in a purple and gold uniform. The cost to cut him is absolutely stupid-huge and shows how much they relied on Kirk’s arm for this team’s success.

Finally, if the Vikings can wait until the offseason of 2021-22, the cost in dead cap is a flat $10 million, before or after June 1.

Hope?

There is one opportunity for the Vikings to get out of Kirk’s contract BEFORE the start of next season.

According to Spotrac.com, if the Vikings trade Kirk Cousins AFTER June 1, 2021 (this coming offseason); they would only pay $10 million in dead cap. That’s the same amount as what they would pay in order to cut him 16 games later.

It’s hard to think about a team that would trade for Kirk Cousins, right now, but there is a lot of season left. Could he recover enough for someone like Kyle Shanahan to give him a shot in San Francisco. The level of love he’s gotten from Kyle is next level and Jimmy Garoppolo kind of sucks too…

Believe it or not:

Joe Burrow attempted more passes (61) in Week 2 than Jimmy Garoppolo attempted in San Francisco's entire 2019 playoff run (58). pic.twitter.com/NES7uoBb7V
— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) September 18, 2020

Garoppolo had a great day today, going 8/8 with a TD before getting hurt. He isn’t set to return… With or without Kirk Cousins, this team will look completely different come 2021 unless something DRASTIC happens.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan