Ex-Vikings QB Kirk Cousins Reveals Truth About Franchise-Altering Decision

The Minnesota Vikings are set to enter the 2025 season with their third starting quarterback in the past three seasons, but Kirk Cousins, who began the trend in 2023, now says he would have done things differently if he knew in 2024 what he knows now.

Cousins, a four-time Pro Bowler, signed a four-year $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency in 2024.

He was later benched in favor of rookie first-round pick Michael Penix Jr.

It is a scenario that could have easily played out very similarly in Minnesota, where the Vikings traded up to select J.J. McCarthy two slots after the Falcons took Penix. Still, Cousins said that, all things considered, he would have liked to remain in Minnesota after being “misled” in Atlanta.

“I wasn’t expecting us [Atlanta] to take a quarterback so high,” Cousins said on Episode 1 of Season 2 of Netflix’s “Quarterback,” which debuted on July 8. “At the time, it felt like I’d been a little bit misled. Or, certainly, if I had the information around free agency, it certainly would have affected my decision. I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there, if both teams are gonna be drafting a quarterback high.”

Cousins went on to say

that he has learned that no one is “entitled to anything” and that it is “all about being able to earn your spot and prove yourself.”

Cousins, who spent six years with the Vikings, was benched in favor of Penix after a 7-7 start.

Kirk Cousins, Falcons Both Facing Remorse After Costly Decision

Cousins, 36, missed the final eight games of his Vikings tenure with a torn Achilles. He began the 2024 season 6-3, completing 69.2% of his passes for 2,328 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.

He went 0-4 over his next five starts, sporting a 1,06-0-8 line on 62.4% completion.

The ex-Vikings star, Cousins, led Atlanta to a win in Week 15 over the Las Vegas Raiders in his final start. He later admitted to playing through an injury suffered at the start of his slide.

“I think the Achilles healed well. I think there was a little bit of just trying to get my right ankle back around the Achilles. But the Achilles itself healed really well. And even then, we were 6-3, [I] was playing well, doing a lot of good things even if the right ankle wasn’t perfect. Nobody’s perfect in this league. We’re never feeling 100%, so it didn’t really affect me too much,” Cousins said on “Good Morning Football” on February 4.

“Then, against the Saints [Week 10], got hit pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow. And from there, kind of dealing with that. It was something I was working through, and just never really could get it to where I wanted it.”

Notably, the Vikings have since doubled down on their decision that led to Cousins’ exit.

Kirk Cousins Could Find Way Back to Vikings

Cousins indeed left the Vikings partly due to their desire to draft a quarterback, but also because he sought longer-term security than Minnesota was willing to offer.

“They were great, and they always were. They were always great,” Cousins said on “Bussin’ With The Boys” in May 2024. “It was just that the structure – and structure is what is always kind of driven the conversation for me – the structure was more on a year-to-year basis. And I thought, ‘You know, I don’t think that’s the direction I’d like to go.”

Cousins’ future will be something to monitor.

He is expected to remain with the Falcons due to financial reasons. That is, barring a trade offer making such a move worthwhile. Meanwhile, the Vikings are taking a risk with McCarthy. He suffered a torn meniscus in the 2024 preseason opener and missed his rookie season.

It would likely take Cousins securing his release from the Falcons. There is at least a viable path that leads the four-time Pro Bowler back to Minnesota and the Vikings, though.