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Cousins could be the starter among the quarterbacks available in unrestricted free agency if the Minnesota Vikings don’t re-sign him.
“We have our interests. He has his,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said last week at the combine. “And we come to the table and see if we can find a creative solution and how to find a middle ground. … What we do know is that we have a great quarterback, a great leader and someone who we believe we can win the ultimate prize with.”
Cousins will turn 36 in August and is coming off a season cut short by a torn Achilles tendon in his right leg. But he played very well before his injury. He is a four-time Pro Bowl selection and has been a master at maximizing his market value. If a team decides that Cousins is the addition it needs to win now, it could emerge with another highly lucrative contract.
The Broncos informed Wilson on Monday that he will be released next week. The move was widely expected after his two-season stay in Denver became increasingly controversial.
Wilson, 35, was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl winner during his 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. He couldn’t duplicate that success in Denver, but he was the NFL’s eighth-rated passer last season. And the Broncos owe him $39 million for next season, minus whatever he earns from his next team, meaning Wilson’s new franchise might not have to give him an overly expensive deal, at least not for the year. 1.
The Broncos must replace Wilson as they face an $85 million cap hit from his release. They can spread that amount over two seasons. And the salary cap will see a record jump of $30.6 million from last season to next, to $255.4 million per team. However, the pressure is not ideal and the Broncos may have to factor that into their quarterback deliberations.
“We want to look at the big picture,” Broncos general manager George Paton said last week.
Sean Payton, who took over as Broncos coach last year, can only hope to find a quarterback who will allow him to duplicate the success he had with Drew Brees while with the New Orleans Saints. Payton spoke at the combine about seeing a “humorous meme” of a Broncos fan wearing a jersey with the names of about eight quarterbacks, all crossed out. The Broncos’ job, Payton said, “is to make sure the next guy doesn’t have a line going through him.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided not to use their franchise tag on Mayfield before Tuesday’s deadline, instead placing it on safety Antoine Winfield Jr. The tag would have resulted in a one-year contract worth $38.301 million for Mayfield .
Mayfield, the former No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns, revived his career last season with the Buccaneers, helping them reach the NFC playoffs and beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round. He is eligible for free agency after signing just a one-year deal with the Buccaneers last offseason. They could still re-sign Mayfield before the free agent market opens, and they apparently would like to do so. But if that doesn’t happen, Tampa Bay would risk losing Mayfield to another bidder.
The Chicago Bears own the No. 1 pick in next month’s draft and could use it on Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams. If so, the Bears would perhaps look to trade Fields, who has had some promising moments during his three NFL seasons but has yet to become a franchise quarterback.
The Commanders have the No. 2 pick. The Patriots pick third. The New York Giants are sixth. The Falcons are eighth. The Vikings are 11th, followed by the Broncos at 12th and the Raiders at 13th.
Fellow quarterbacks Drake Maye of North Carolina and Jayden Daniels of LSU are likely to join Williams as the top three picks. The next tier of draft-eligible quarterbacks (Michigan’s JJ McCarthy, Washington’s Michael Penix and Oregon’s Bo Nix) also show promise.
That’s the backdrop against which teams in need of quarterbacks must consider free agency and potential trades. More can be done in April; much more, in some cases.
But some teams won’t wait that long. There has been speculation that the Falcons will emerge next week as a top contender for Cousins. There has been speculation about the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Kenny Pickett on the roster and Mason Rudolph eligible for free agency, or the Raiders as potential bidders for Wilson.
The Vikings could be in the market for veteran quarterbacks if they fail to re-sign Cousins. The Buccaneers could join if they don’t retain Mayfield. The Seahawks reworked Geno Smith’s contract and reportedly plan to retain him, but that hasn’t stopped speculation that they could still make a quarterback move.
The other potential free agent quarterbacks include Ryan Tannehill, Gardner Minshew, Joe Flacco, Sam Darnold and Jacoby Brissett. The Raiders are expected to release Jimmy Garoppolo. The Patriots could trade Mac Jones. The New York Jets have given Zach Wilson permission to pursue a trade.
If it seems, for now, that there are more veteran quarterbacks available than there are desirable landing spots with starting opportunities, it rarely works out that way. The 32 NFL teams collectively used 66 different starting quarterbacks last season and 69 during the 2022 season. The Browns had five different starters last season even as they made the AFC playoffs. The fourth of them, Flacco, was out of the league until he signed with them in November, but he ended up being named the NFL’s comeback player of the year.
The teams know the consequences of these decisions.
“It’s the most important position in sports,” Paton said last week. “So it’s important. … Our decision is very important.”