Dec 8, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) talk after the game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Kirk Cousins was employed by the Vikings for six seasons. His contract was such a behemoth that he majorly impacted the salary cap for seven seasons.
Indeed, the 2024 budget saw $28.5 million from Cousins left over as dead money. That’s salary cap room that was fully immobilized in Minnesota’s excellent 14-3 season. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah did a nice job of managing the money, getting Sam Darnold for very little while then relying on several cheap options to fill out the remainder of the quarterback room (J.J. McCarthy, Nick Mullens, and Brett Rypien).
The irony is that Minnesota is now working with a new financial monster: a staggering amount of debt in 2026 that’s sitting at $53.7 million.
The Vikings are finally free of the Cousins money. Even still, the future budget appears to be in rough shape, the kind of outcome that has prompted different pieces that seek to clarify how cap space can be saved (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C). What’s going on when it comes to the Minnesota money and the future outlook?
The Vikings & The New Monster
If the current trajectory continues, Kirk Cousins will go down as a good quarterback and a great businessman.
Very willingly, the Vikings enabled the phenomena to take place. There was the original deal that came in at a trio of seasons and a fully-guaranteed $84 million. The contract would end up getting extended and adjusted on a couple other occasions, all with the key detail that the top passer would be earning hearty guaranteed money in spite of limited success. Yes, there are nice stats alongside four Pro Bowls, but Cousins has never been an All Pro, never won a major award in the NFL, and has just a single playoff win.
Jun 3, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) is interviewed after Falcons OTA at the Falcons Training facility. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
When it finally came time to stop doling out such huge sums of money, Cousins ventured down to Atlanta for a price tag of $180 million across for years. The Falcons, presumably, now regret that move given that Mr. Cousins has been benched in favor of Michael Penix Jr., the passer whom they stunningly chose at No. 8 in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Atlanta, at some point, likely trades Kirk Cousins. Doing so after June 1 means liberating $27.5 million in cap space while accepting $12.5 million in dead money for the present-day budget (and then more dead money pain in the future). So, the Cousins signing was a bit of a budget buster for Atlanta, the kind of move that makes it more unlikely to compete due to so much cash getting burned up for very little return on investment.
The Vikings have changed course, moving ahead with a young arm in J.J. McCarthy. The sophomore is coming in with a cap charge a hair below $5 million. The number will rise in the coming seasons — getting close to $6 million in 2026 before flirting with $7 million in 2027 — but we’re still talking about a bargain of a deal if he performs like a QB1, even a low-end one.
The issue, of course, is simply that Minnesota still has that monster waiting for them in less than a year: the projected deficit sitting at $53.7 million.
Aug 10, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) under center against the Las Vegas Raiders in the third quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Dustin Baker wrote about the issue recently, commenting, “If this looks familiar, it’s for good reason. This situation resembles the Kirk Cousins era of team-building and might even be grimmer.” Baker continues: “How did we get here? Simple — general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah unleashed his checkbook two months ago, onboarding expensive free agents.”
Yes, that’s precisely it, folks. Shifting things to McCarthy meant taking some of the burden off of McCarthy’s shoulders. In other words, spend major money on strong players all over the roster, building up the team in a way that simply wasn’t possible with Kirk Cousins in town.
The end result may look somewhat similar — a snug financial outlook for the future — but the path toward that projected deficit is quite different. Perhaps the Vikings have finally stepped onto the right path, the one that could lead to some meaningful success that was always so elusive with Cousins under center.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.