The Vikings approached the offseason with a lame-duck starting quarterback, a lame-duck general manager and a lame-duck head coach.
That's a lot of lame ducks in the three most important positions inside an NFL organization. Their employment status was bound to change because A) organizations crave stability at those three jobs and B) the Vikings were mired in salary-cap quicksand and needed relief to make necessary improvements.
The team addressed one piece Monday when Kirk Cousins agreed to a two-year extension. Does that mean GM Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer are next in line? Seems likely, if only adding one or two more seasons to their contracts. The fate of those three are superglued together for as long as they are employed by the Vikings.
The anti-Cousins crowd will howl in frustration over his extension _ I wasn't in favor of extending him just for the sake of doing so _ but the trade-off was worth it. The Vikings had no salary cap room. Something had to give. They jettisoned defensive fixtures Xavier Rhodes and Linval Joseph last week but that was a start, not a full accounting.
Extending Cousins lowers his 2020 cap number by about $10 million, which helps cover the cost of giving the franchise tag to safety Anthony Harris, an unrestricted free agent. That move seems odd.
Harris is a rising star. He is a great story and a true pro in the locker room. But the Vikings now have a lot of money tied up in the safety position between Harrison Smith and Harris. That seems unwise, which even Zimmer suggested at the scouting combine when he said, "if you put up the positions that are most important on defense, it's probably not going to be safety."
Perhaps the Vikings will look to trade Harris, or have something else in mind. Their next step should be painfully obvious by now: Upgrade the offensive line in a meaningful way, otherwise extending Cousins is simply a waste of money.
The Vikings had a significant to-do list after being overpowered by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs' divisional round:
No. 1: Create cap flexibility.
No. 2: Fix the offensive line.
No. 3: Decide if Stefon Diggs has a future here. (He offered another cryptic social media post Monday, not long after Cousins' extension. Make of that what you will.)
They have accomplished one objective so far. Bolstering the line is paramount. As for Diggs, who knows?
Cousins had a career year statistically last season. He finished top-five in quarterback rating and completion percentage. He won a playoff game at New Orleans, thus altering his narrative about not being able to win a big game. But we also know his glaring weaknesses, too.
He doesn't improvise well when the pocket collapses. He becomes jittery when facing constant pressure. Bad attributes to have with a subpar line.
Cousins thrives when conditions are ideal. We've seen him carve up bad defenses or when he has solid protection, but the road to a championship isn't paved with patsies. Cousins looked completely overwhelmed and helpless against a ferocious 49ers pass rush.
The Vikings need a minimum of two new starters on the offensive line. Clear upgrades, not lateral moves with different names. If the Vikings don't have a mobile quarterback skilled at making something out of nothing, they better have a stalwart line that insulates him in order to maximize his strengths. Otherwise, their plan isn't going to work.
There are those who wanted the Vikings to stand pat on Cousins, draft a quarterback with a top pick this spring and start the process over. If they can identify a quarterback of the future who they fully believe in, go for it, even with Cousins' extension. But that requires long-term security at the top.
No organization will allow a GM and coach in the final year of their contracts to draft a franchise quarterback. That's a recipe for future problems. Zimmer and Spielman are operating with a win-now mentality _ with or without an extension _ so they are not inclined to start over with a rookie quarterback and likely suffer through growing pains.
The Vikings remain committed to Cousins and their plan. If they don't adequately address needs around him, it will just be more of the same.
