We now know why Kirk Cousins chose not to re-sign in Minnesota

And it’s funny, given what happened later

Immediately after the start of the “legal tampering” period of free agency. . .or well before, depending on who you believe. . .quarterback Kirk Cousins made the decision to leave the Minnesota Vikings to sign a four-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Vikings brass made it clear in the lead-up to free agency that they wanted Cousins back, but the two sides didn’t get a deal worked out.

We now know what happened and, given what’s transpired since, it’s pretty funny.

Albert Breer talked in his Monday Morning Quarterback column today about why Cousins decided to leave Minnesota after six seasons in purple.

. . .a reason he decided to leave Minnesota is because the Vikings were very up front with the 35-year-old about the possibility that, even in the case he stayed, they’d take a quarterback of the future high in the draft. Tying that together with the team’s willingness to guarantee part, but not all, of a second year on another contract, Cousins figured that, if he stayed, there was a good shot that he’d be on the move in 2025.

I know Cousins appreciated how open the Vikings were about their draft strategy, even if it meant him leaving.

As it turns out, the front office wasn’t misleading anyone when they said they wanted Cousins back in 2024 and beyond, but now we know that Cousins wasn’t keen on the idea of the Vikings drafting his successor with a high first-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

So, Cousins decided to head for Atlanta, after which the Falcons promptly decided to. . .draft Cousins’ successor with a high first-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, selecting Michael Penix Jr. at #8 overall. The Vikings would take Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy two picks later.

The Vikings were upfront with Cousins about what their plans were, from Breer’s account, and that honesty has changed the course of their franchise. Hopefully McCarthy will, in time, turn out to be what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell believe he can be and take the Vikings to the sorts of heights they didn’t reach during the Cousins era.