If you have watched any amount of sports, you will know that injuries are simply an unfortunate reality of life. Anyone, from the star quarterback to the backup long-snapper, can get bitten by the injury bug. On Sunday, October 29, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was the one who drew the short straw.
Early reports said that the veteran suffered an Achilles injury. While we’re still awaiting the official details, things certainly seem serious. On a human level, the news speaks for itself. No one, not even a rival fan, wants to see someone go down with a major injury. But, even when we look beyond Cousins’ humanity, this story is simply bad news from virtually every perspective.
Let’s break it down.
Point in His Career
Given the thin margins of professional sports, a serious injury can change the course of an athlete’s career. Cousins, however, doesn’t have time on his side.
The signal-caller will turn 36 before the 2024 season kicks off, which is rather old in football terms. His body of work—Cousins has piled up more than 39,000 passing yards in his career while throwing for 270 touchdowns—would probably allow him to receive another job offer, but it remains to be seen if he would be up for the task.
Getting back to your best after major surgery can be tricky, and lower-body injuries often carry some mental baggage. Can Cousins get himself back into playing shape and have enough trust in his body to embrace physical contact?
And, at this stage of his career, will he even want to push through the pain to mount a potential comeback?
The timing is also incredibly poor for Cousins on another level: He’s out of contract this season. No one will be shedding a tear over an NFL player with more than $200 million in career earnings, but potentially missing out on a payday makes things a bit more painful. Even if the QB wasn’t going to earn a Patrick Mahomes-level contract, inking a new deal this summer just became a bit tougher.
The Vikings’ Players Are Also Feeling the Hit.
Given the anonymity of their pads and helmets, it’s easy to view football players as modern gladiators who suffer for our amusement. Under all that gear, though, there are human beings.
After Cousins’ injury, that was plain to see.
Cousins, for all the memes, has been around the block. He has clearly earned the respect of his teammates and his status as a captain. And while it’s easy to overlook something intangible like leadership, he won’t be offering that in the huddle moving forward.
The Vikings as a Team Are Also in Limbo
In the previous subhead, we discussed the emotional impact on the Vikings players. From an organizational perspective, Minnesota is also in a bit of a bind.
Rather than extending or trading Cousins, the club decided to let him play into the final year of his contract. That reality, combined with his injury, means that there is no clear path forward.
The Vikings are sitting at 4-4. Justin Jefferson is an all-world talent, and it is possible that he’ll return this year; even with him on the sidelines, though, the club has hung tough. Furthermore, Minny’s schedule also gets easier from here on. Even with Cousins out, the team is probably too good to genuinely tank in any meaningful manner.
But, by the same token, Minnesota isn’t a genuine Super Bowl contender. Even if trading for a big-name quarterback was possible—making a major deal work in a matter of days is tricky—it probably wouldn’t be worth the cost. Is giving up assets to cling to a playoff berth really worth it? Sure, anything can happen in the postseason, but a first-round exit isn’t something that warrants mortgaging your future.
To that end, the Vikings get the worst of both worlds. A serious postseason run is most likely off the table, and trading for a high-quality signal-caller is both unlikely and a waste of resources. The club probably won’t even get a good draft pick for their troubles, unless things really go off the rails.
And the danger does not even end there. With Cousins’ future up in the air and the Vikings sitting at 20th place in the draft order, there might not be a star quarterback on the cards for 2024. And, if Minnesota has to trot out a journeyman for a season or two, it’s tough to see that helping results improve.
It goes without saying that Cousins’ injury is a serious blow for both the quarterback and the Vikings. The timing, however, makes things that much worse.
