Report: Minnesota Vikings restructure contract of QB Kirk Cousins

The Minnesota Vikings restructured the contract of quarterback Kirk Cousins and created a good amount of cap space, according to multiple reports.

“According to multiple reports, the result is $16 million cap space for the coming season, which is the final one on Cousins’ contract,” Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper wrote. “The remaining hit pushed into the two void years that are tacked onto his deal.”

SI’s Albert Breer provided an additional update to Cousins’ contract, which did not result in a change in his base salary of $10 million.

Breer reported Cousins’ salary was unchanged and the restructure only involved converting the roster bonus. Two more void years were added to further spread out the cap hit.

Cousins had another solid season throwing the ball and led the Vikings to an NFC North title. However, Minnesota fell in the NFC Wild Card round to the New York Giants.

Cousins finished with 4,547 yards (a career best with the Vikings and second most of his career), 29 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and a 65.9% completion percentage.

In his career, Cousins has 37,140 yards, 252 touchdowns, 105 interceptions and a 68.6% completion percentage.

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More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 7. Beginning March 13 through March 15 teams will be allowed a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. 

Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.