Cousins will sign with Minnesota

As to the possibility that Cousins won’t be attractive in three years based on his performance over the next three, a couple of non-guaranteed years wouldn’t have mattered, because the Vikings would have cut him.

“We’ve only agreed to visit Minnesota first”, McCartney said.

The major difference is that Cousins will be free to go after a new contract in 2021 – from the Vikings or the free agency market – no matter how he plays.

A source said Philadelphia free-agent defensive tackle Beau Allen, a Minnetonka, Minn., native, has received interest from Detroit and Tampa Bay but the Vikings did not reach out early in free agency.

In 2017 Cousins topped the 4,000-yard mark for the third straight season.

Cousins, 29, has been one of the NFL’s most productive quarterbacks since becoming the Redskins’ full-time starter three years ago.

The Broncos had inside knowledge into Keenum due to senior personnel adviser and former coach Gary Kubiak’s relationship with the free-agent quarterback. They offered him a 3-year, $28M per year deal. But the opportunity to sign Cousins is a rare one that could not be passed up.

If Cousins likes Minnesota’s pitch, then Arizona would need to move forward by setting up meetings and physicals with a second-tier of quarterback options: Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater and Josh McCown.

The 30-year-old started 14 regular-season games and both postseason contests last season while leading the Minnesota Vikings to within one win of the Super Bowl. But the prospective “what if’s” of a franchise that has been stuck in neutral for the past 49 years is just not that attractive. Since Favre’s retirement in 2010, the Vikings have tried a bevy of quarterbacks from draft picks to free agent signings. But he was able to succeed in Minnesota while playing behind an elite defense as well as having two unsafe receiving weapons. After last season, Robison was noncommittal about his future. Pictured: Cousins talks with Keenum after the Vikings defeated the Washington Redskins 38-30 at FedExField on November 12, 2017 in Landover, Maryland.