Contract Kirk – Keep Or Cut In 2024?
The dog days of summer are near, and with them come the most heated months of debate for any and all NFL fans: training camp. Training camp may not seem like much, but you must understand that for every team that didn’t come home with the big one at the end of last season, this is prime time to sh*t talk to the absolute max. Training Camp is like Schrodinger’s Cat in the sense that in this short & swift span of time any team can be anything. Why couldn’t the Texans take it all the way? Why wouldn’t this finally be Zach Wilson’s breakout year? It’s a magical time filled with unfounded optimism…and lingering questions. For Vikings fans though, the key question that will be talk of every barbecue and bar rail will be this: Should we resign Cousins? (Again).
In the 5 years we’ve come to know and love everyone’s favorite iced out QB, he’s amassed a fairly respectable record and a few notable accolades.
46 wins against 33 losses.
2 playoff appearances and 1 NFC North Title.
In a state that maintains a mathematically improbable history of losing at more or less everything always, under Kirk’s tenure the Vikings have remained competitive(ish), and coming off a season that saw the Vikings match their highest win total since ‘98, there’s a fair argument to be made that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
BUT THEN AGAIN . . .
Here’s the thing. The Viking’s have pumped ludicrous amounts of money into Kirk’s contracts to the detriment of other areas of the team (goodbye Adam Thielen 😢). And while the Vikings haven’t come away empty handed by any means, at the end of the day you don’t play for second place. Actually, if we’re being honest, we haven’t even gotten all that close to second place either.
Justin Jefferson is the best receiver in the league, some could call that a biased opinion but I’ll go ahead and call it fact, and he needs more from a quarterback than a guy who makes the throws he’s supposed to make and misses the ones he’s supposed to miss.
Suffice to say, Kirk is good, but not great, and not to get too deep into folksy wisdom, but good is the enemy of great. So I’ll come out and say it, in these 5 years I think we’ve seen the extent of what Kirk has to offer us, and while I appreciate the playoff appearances and pretty much all of last year, I’m ready to roll the dice on the transcendent talent that Justin Jefferson 100% appears to be.
Now that’s not to say I have the answer for who should take Kirk’s place (or maybe I do, but that’s for another article), but I’m willing to take my chances on something new instead of more years of “yeah they’re pretty good, but they’re going to get dog-walked come playoff time!” So let’s take one last ride into the sunset this season with Mr. Thuggins. And after that, let’s go our separate ways. Each mostly better, or at least not too much worse, for the experience.
VERDICT: CUT
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