There is no doubt about it: Kirk Cousins is the the top available free agent quarterback this offseason and there is going to be a ton of interest in his services when he hits the open market as an NFL unicorn, a healthy franchise quarterback under the age of 30 completely unimpeded from contractual requirements.
And ahead of the 2018 NFL Combine, buzz is starting to build about interest from teams for Cousins services. The Cardinals are probably out because of the financials involved, but the Jets, who are reportedly willing to pay "whatever it takes" to get Cousins, will not be the only players.
The Denver Broncoshave beenheavily connected to Cousins for a while now and Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reports that Denver might have an idea of what kind of contract gets a deal done with the soon-to-be free agent.
Specifically, Robinson believes the deal could involve Cousins getting north of $80 million guaranteed and around $25 million per year.
Those numbers are probably surprising to people, considering Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers just reset the quarterback market with the former Patriots backup earning $27.5 million per year from San Francisco with his new contract. But it's worth noting, as it always is with these NFL contracts, that the guaranteed money in Garoppolo's contract is not as high as what you're going to see from Cousins.
Just 35.4 percent of Jimmy G's deal is guaranteed and he has just $9.74 million guaranteed per year over the course of the deal, via Over the Cap. When you rank him by those numbers, it is not a market-resetting deal. Getting $80 million guaranteed on a deal that is worth either $125 million or $150 million (five or six years, we'll assume)? That would be game-changing. Matthew Stafford currently leads the NFL in total guaranteed dollars, with $60.5 million. Cousins could blow that out of the water.
And he would do so because there are teams with loads of cap space interested in him and teams that are quality, Super Bowl-caliber franchises who will pursue him. NFL.com's Gil Brandt noted on Twitter he would wager on Cousins landing with the Vikings and that there is "interest on both sides."
The Vikings are in a fascinating situation, because they have a trio of free-agent quarterbacks in Case Keenum, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater. In other words, they have three quarterbacks, but they don't really have any quarterbacks. And it sounds like they may ultimately decide not to place the franchise tag on Keenum.
Which would put them squarely in the Cousins sweepstakes. And, unlike anyone else, the Vikings can offer Cousins what few other NFL teams can: a viable chance to win a Super Bowl. The Broncos can be contenders if they land Cousins and if they are able to retain the offensive and defensive pieces necessary to compete.
The Vikings don't need to do anything. They have Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph and Dalvin Cook in place on offense. The defense is built to be dominant for the next few years. The Vikings will compete for the Super Bowl with a decent quarterback, and Cousins would give them a top-tier options.
Benefiting Minnesota -- and Denver -- is the notion that Cousins already made a lot of money and stands to make a lot of money moving forward regardless of where he plays. Cousins has pointed out it's important for him to be happy and to win. It might mean he ends up taking a little bit less to try and push Minnesota over the top.
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