From the moment J.J. McCarthy injured his ankle in mid-September, many NFL media members, NFL fans, and even Minnesota Vikings faithful decided the team should, or might, bring Kirk Cousins home. But that theory didn’t materialize on Tuesday after all.
It took a few months, but one rather bizarre Minnesota Vikings rumor died on Tuesday, deceased after the purple team made no moves at the trade deadline.
No trades can be conducted for the rest of the regular season, and the Atlanta Falcons did not trade Cousins by Tuesday’s deadline.
Cousins is stuck.
Former Vikings QB Kirk Cousins Not Traded to Minnesota
The idea never really made sense in the first place.
Falcons Hang onto Cousins
All attention turned to the league’s trade deadline, as players like Sauce Gardner (Indianapolis Colts) and Quinnen Williams (Dallas Cowboys) found new homes.
For quarterbacks, Cousins arguably represented the top name on the market, with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston vying for second and third place. In the end, Cousins, Wilson, and Winston remained with their current teams.
After weeks of thinking that contending teams could stack contingency plans at quarterback, the trade deadline was rather quiet at the league’s most important position.
A Very Loud Rumor Mill
McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain against the Cousins’ Falcons in Week 2, and from that moment on, many started a false theory that the Vikings didn’t want him in the lineup. They called his injury a “soft benching,” classifying it as a sham ailment that Minnesota could use to get a mediocre quarterback under center, like Carson Wentz.
The only problem was that the theory was a lie.
Accordingly, because the gossip suggested the Vikings had soured on McCarthy, they might need another quarterback if Wentz went down. Well, that happened.
Instead, Minnesota returned to McCarthy when he fully healed from the high ankle sprain — but not before a litany of rumors hinting at a Cousins trade.
For instance, SI.com‘s Tom Dierberger wrote Monday, “I mean, c’mon. The storylines write themselves. Cousins left Minnesota for the Falcons in free agency because the Vikings were set on drafting a quarterback in 2024 and he wanted more long-term stability as the starter.”
“Fast forward a couple of months, and Cousins found himself in the exact same situation in Atlanta—only it was behind Michael Penix Jr., not McCarthy. Cousins, who lost the starting job to Penix late last season, started one game for the Falcons this year. In an ugly 34–10 loss to the Dolphins, Cousins threw for 173 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions on 21-of-31 passing.”
Cousins did himself no favors — at all — in the loss to Miami.
Dierberger continued, “He’s clearly not the same quarterback as he was before tearing his Achilles at Lambeau Field in October 2023, but perhaps that’s a good thing for the sake of this trade. Nobody would be calling for Cousins to start while McCarthy goes through growing pains, and if called upon, he already has built-in chemistry with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and the rest of Kevin O’Connell’s offense.”
“Schefter did report over the weekend that the Falcons ‘haven’t shown any willingness’ to trade Cousins, but hey, crazier things have happened.”
Budget Was Never There
On top of the notion that Minnesota believed and believes in McCarthy for the short- and long-term, the Vikings also didn’t have the money for Cousins.
The 37-year-old earns $45 million per season to sit on the Falcons’ bench, and in 2026, his cap number will be $57.5 million. In 2027, he’ll carry the same cap number: another $57.5 million.
Some team might find a way to afford that if Cousins were productive, but not Minnesota. After the franchise’s competitive rebuild from 2022 to 2024, the money is suddenly thin. It never had the cash to entertain a Cousins swap.
Backward Thinking Would’ve Been Weird
Moreover, Minnesota’s head coach and general manager routinely went out of their way to reassert that McCarthy is their man of the long haul, through hell and high water. Although fringe theorists thought those men were lying through their teeth, the Vikings used their actions when McCarthy healed last week.
He is the QB1; Cousins is not.
Trading for Cousins and his mammoth contract felt like a relic. Forward-thinking regimes don’t typically panic and call upon solutions of yesteryear after a single bad game.
Cousins as a Trade Deadline “Loser”
Bleacher Report labeled winners and losers for each team after Tuesday’s deadline, and for the Falcons, Cousins got the l-word treatment.
BR’s staff collectively wrote, “Falcons backup quarterback Kirk Cousins made it clear that he wanted an opportunity to start, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano. With multiple teams battling injuries or poor play at the quarterback position, Cousins’ desire never felt far-fetched.”
“However, the Falcons opted to keep the 37-year-old as veteran insurance behind Michael Penix Jr. That’s not the worst idea for them, especially since Cousins has already started one game in place of Penix this season. It means, though, that Cousins won’t have his own team until 2026 at the earliest.”
The Cousins saga will reignite in February and March, as the masses wonder if Atlanta will trade or release him.
