Kirk Cousins: Vikings were ‘very unlikely’ to draft QB if he re-signed

When Kirk Cousins left the Minnesota Vikings in March, multiple reports indicated the team told him they would possibly select a quarterback in the NFL Draft, even if he had stayed.

Cousins, however, disputed those reports. The new Atlanta Falcons quarterback said the Vikings didn’t tell him that they planned to draft a quarterback when they were still negotiating a new deal, he told The Athletic’s “Scoop City” podcast.

“I don’t think they were ready to go there yet in March,” Cousins said. “I think the reality is just that they wanted to give themselves that flexibility. And I remember [Vikings coach] Kevin [O’Connell]’s words, which I’m not going to hold them to, were, ‘Hey, if we sign you back, I would think it’s very unlikely that we would draft somebody.’ It was something to that effect. 

“But I also know in the league things change. So, even if he says that, it’s not like I’m going to hold him to that. But his approach was, ‘I just don’t see us doing that if you’re back.'”

Cousins suffered an Achilles tear in his final season in Minnesota, which caused the Vikings to slip down the standings and finish 7-10. As a result, they went into the offseason holding the 11th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, which was set to be the Vikings’ highest draft selection since 2015.

As Minnesota was slated to pick right outside the top 10, O’Connell told Cousins shortly after the season that the team wanted to use the opportunity to select a quarterback from a deep draft class, but he still wanted the veteran to start in 2024, ESPN reported earlier in July. A report from Sports Illustrated in May said the same thing. 

While Cousins denied those reports, he admitted that the Vikings’ transparency about not making a long-term commitment to him was a driving force that caused him to leave Minnesota.  

“I just felt it had been — and was going to be — basically one year, one year, one year,” Cousins said about his contract situation with the Vikings. “I felt like, ‘Yeah,…

Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/kirk-cousins-denies-vikings-told-him-theyd-draft-qb-he-stayed

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Publish date : 2024-07-30 15:31:20

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