{"id":759777,"date":"2026-02-18T06:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759777\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T06:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:51:18","slug":"the-vikings-and-kirk-cousins-are-meant-to-be-it-seems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759777\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vikings and Kirk Cousins are meant to be it seems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 17, 2026, 10:23 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings<\/a> need a quarterback. They need someone to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job and to bring stability to the quarterback room as a whole. There likely won’t be many high-level quarterbacks available in free agency, but one name could bring back familiarity and a level of professionalism the Vikings lacked at the position in 2025.<\/p>\n

Kirk Cousins isn’t a free agent yet, but Adam Schefter reported two weeks ago that the Atlanta Falcons were looking to release the 37-year-old quarterback. He has spent the past two years in Atlanta after playing his previous six seasons in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport<\/a> ranked Cousins as his 6th-best available quarterback this offseason and cited the Vikings as a fit.<\/p>\n

In many regards, Cousins is what he is. He’s not going to throw for 4,500 yards like he did in Minnesota in 2022. Or toss 30-plus touchdowns the way he did the season before that. Those days are past.<\/p>\n

But Cousins is a steady veteran presence under center who has started 167 games at the professional level. He’s not going to be expensive either\u2014it’s reasonable to expect he’ll ink a deal in the neighborhood of the one-year, $13.6 million pact Aaron Rodgers got from the Steelers a year ago.<\/p>\n

Cousins is a temporary fix at his position. But whether it’s a team looking to add competition under center like the Minnesota Vikings or a band-aid for teams with an unclear future at the position like the New York Jets, there will be a market for his services.<\/p>\n

Assuming Cousins will take any deal worth market value feels unrealistic, even though he will be 38 when the 2026 season begins. But he would be a cheaper option that wouldn’t require Minnesota to trade draft capital to acquire.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cousins also played well in two seasons under Kevin O’Connell, throwing 47 touchdowns and only 19 interceptions. He led the Vikings to a 13-4 record in 2022 and helped dig the team out of a 0-3 hole in 2023 before tearing his Achilles tendon in October.<\/p>\n

He was a polarizing figure in his six seasons in Minnesota, but the Vikings know what they would be getting if they brought Cousins back. It may not lead to All-Pro quarterback play, but it could provide the level of reliability the team needs in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 17, 2026, 10:23 p.m. CT The Minnesota Vikings need a quarterback. They need someone to compete with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[95878,223,254,2554,224,7,6,97234,97235,95882,97157,95988,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-759777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflvikings","16":"tag-sstsnvikings","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagkirk-cousins","19":"tag-tagminnesota-vikings","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","22":"tag-tagsports-news","23":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116090312141135007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}