Kirk Cousins and Kyle Shanahan have been inextricably linked since it became known that the 49ers coach was aiming to sign Cousins during the 2018 low season, when the quarterback came to free agency. A mid-season change for Jimmy Garoppolo and his five consecutive wins to end that year in San Francisco threw a key into those plans. The Cousins joined the Vikings on a lucrative fully guaranteed contract and Garoppolo secured a five-year deal from the 49ers.
Speculation about the Cousins-Shanahan reunion has been overflowing since then, and resurfaced before this year’s Super Bowl, with the 49ers potentially wanting to improve below center. ESPN’s Adam Schefter told Guy Haberman and John Middlekauff on the podcast “Haberman and Middlekauff” despite Internet rumors, he had heard no interest from the 49ers for Cousins.
“Yeah, there’s been talk of Kirk Cousins,” Schefter said. “And I guess something could happen, but I didn’t know it was like that, so I don’t know where it’s coming from.”
The question of whether Cousins offers the kind of update San Francisco is looking for downtown is debatable. Their numbers are better, but it’s certainly worth wondering if it would be worth the draft capital or the player the 49ers would have to download to acquire it.
An agreement between Minnesota and San Francisco doesn’t even need to go that far. It just wouldn’t make much sense on either side.
For the Vikings, they have obtained a productive game of Cousins. It was good last year and it certainly wasn’t the reason they failed to make the postseason. Going through it would probably be a marked step backwards. Not to mention the deal before June 1 would come with $ 20 million dead in 2021 and an additional $ 10 million dead the following year. That means a lot of dead money for a player who probably doesn’t want to change.
Even a post-June 1 deal would not be cheap for Minnesota. They would carry $ 10 million in no deaths each of the next two seasons according to Over the Cap.
This brings us to the 49ers, who withdrew from Matthew Stafford’s negotiations before even making an official offer because the price had inflated in the first round by the time the Lions returned to them, according to a report by Albert Breer in Illustrated Sports.
Suppose the Vikings want to move cousins because they think it would be worth the money from the first round. San Francisco, in all likelihood, would not be willing to put his number 12 on the table for him in the same way they were not willing to do it for Stafford. And even if they were, their limit reached in 2022 is due to an increase of more than $ 30 million. This is a high price to pay for what could only be a marginal upgrade.
Rumors about the 49ers ’interest in Cousins were always incomplete, and given the full picture above Schefter’s comments, it’s hard to imagine that there are or will be substantial conversations between San Francisco and Minnesota.