On Oct. 29 Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles against the Green Bay Packers. The score of the game was 24 – 10 in the 4th quarter. The Vikings were passing the ball on a 3rd & 19 when the pocket was closing into Cousins so he tried to step up. Cousins did a pump fake while moving up in the pocket when spectators could see his right calf pop. They carted him off the field. Then they put in a 25-year-old rookie out of BYU, Jaren Hall. The Vikings still won the game 24 -10 but just lost one of their best players already dealing with injury on the team.
One of the injuries is Justin Jefferson who is one of the best players in the league. Jefferson had 26 catches for 591 yards for 3 touchdowns before getting an injury against the Chiefs. Before Cousins was on the Vikings drafted by the Washington Commanders in the 4th round in the 2012 NFL draft. He was supposed to be their back to a 1st round pick and the 2011 Heisman winner who was also in the same draft class, Robert Griffin III out of Baylor. When Griffen got injured during the wildcard game against the Seahawks with an ACL and LCL tear he was never the same.
In the 2015 season, the Commander named Cousins was put in as the starter. As a starter Cousin threw for 4166 yards and had 29 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. After the 2017 season, Cousin was a free agent so any team could sign a contract. Cousin signed with the Vikings for 3 years for about 84 million dollars and a 3 million signed bonus. At the time Cousin was the 3rd highest paid quarterback in the league. Then in the 2020 season, he signed a 2 year contract with the Vikings again with 66 million dollars in guaranteed.
Last year, Cousin was on a Netflix show called Quarterback which was produced by hall-of-fame quarterback Peyton Manning who had other players like Marcus Mariota and Patrick Mahomes. The show is about everyday life as a quarterback in the NFL season and the viewers get to see Cousin’s daily life. The people fell in love with him because he was a great teammate and father. In the show, Cousin was dealing with a couple of beatings throughout the season like in the Bills and Commander’s game. Many people think that this could be Cousin’s last year as a Viking because his contract will end this season.
As of week 9, they are 4-4 and may look into a new quarterback this coming NFL draft. A couple of prospects they could get at quarterback are Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and maybe Shedeur Sander if he declares for the draft.