Kirk Cousins returns to Minnesota: Falcons QB playing for even more than expected against former team

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings took a gamble when they allowed Kirk Cousins to test free agency during the offseason, effectively permitting their quarterback of six years to pack his bags. Cousins sealed the deal, scoring a $180 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons. And a month later, when the 2024 schedule was finalized, if he didn’t literally circle Dec. 8 on the calendar, he surely did so in the depths of his mind.

That date falls this Sunday, when Cousins will sprint onto the U.S. Bank Stadium turf, before thousands of purple-doused faithful, not as a representative of the Vikings but as their foe. The luster of the homecoming isn’t exactly as anticipated back in the spring, now that Atlanta is a tepid 6-6, fighting to stay alive in the ugly NFC South race. On the other hand, the matchup might matter more than expected.

For just as the Vikings gambled on their breakup, Cousins will take his own gamble in his actual return: that he can save his Falcons career against the team that no longer wanted him.

Wait, what? Didn’t Cousins just sign that splashy deal in Atlanta? He sure did. But actions speak louder than words (and surface-level contract numbers), and the Falcons, remember, went just 43 days between paying Cousins and spending a top-10 draft pick on fellow quarterback Michael Penix Jr. It was a widely criticized move at the time, and not without risk of disrupting trust between Cousins and his new club, but it also made total sense: Why throw a single dart at the game’s most vital position, and aim it squarely at a 36-year-old coming off a torn Achilles, especially after he’d already proven more solid than spectacular?

Accordingly, with the home stretch of the 2024 season in sight, Cousins’ anticipated return to the Midwest no doubt brings intrigue. Will he capitalize on knowledge of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ oft-unpredictable schemes? Will he feed…

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Author : Cody Benjamin

Publish date : 2024-12-04 19:40:00

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