Vikings Insist They’re ‘Aligned’ Amid Kirk Cousins Fallout
The Minnesota Vikings weren’t surprised by Kirk Cousins’ free agency departure, according to the head coach and general manager.
Both Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah say the front office is aligned and prepared to replace the now-Atlanta Falcons quarterback.
Their media strategy is certainly aligned, with both O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah echoing the line ‘there was complete alignment’.
For the time being, this leaves Sam Darnold as the presumptive QB1 for the Minnesota Vikings.
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“There was complete alignment with, not only going into the process, but how everything played out,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.
“From a standpoint of our plan with Kirk, everybody knows how myself, Kwesi, this organization feels about Kirk. Sometimes things just don’t work out.
“The most important thing is that alignment and the understanding that our plan’s in place. Kwesi’s used the word contingency plans, but those are all discussions and paths and avenues we can take at a very, very important position. In the end, as much as I would’ve maybe liked to have Kirk here, the right thing moving forward for our team is where we are today.”
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“There was complete alignment,” Adofo-Mensah said, echoing O’Connell. “This sport isn’t such that you can just say on a binary basis, I want that player. We’ve been very clear since we’ve gotten here that we like Kirk Cousins.
“We’ve been very clear that we think we could win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. But we have a sport that only gives you a certain number of draft picks, a salary cap, competition from other teams. It’s a resource-constrained thing. So we don’t get the chance to just say, binary, yes or no. There has to be planning and strategy involved.”
There are questions to be answered about why Kirk Cousins left the Vikings so willingly. More urgently, though, they must figure out how to replace him.
