I'm not overly critical for the initial 3-year fully guaranteed contract. I mean, we made it to the NFCC with Case Keenum so it was reasonable to think that Cousins could put them over the top. It was a risk at the time that I think was reasonable, particularly with the other options, which were to give Keenum a big pay day or roll the dice on Teddy who almost lost his leg from a non-contact freak injury.Mothman wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:22 pm I don't think they know how to gauge when their team is an actual contender and when it's not. That's how we get moves like the Bradford trade and Cousins' deal. They think they're opening a Super Bowl window that wasn't there in the first place (or keeping it open).
I think the major mistake was in the extension. The guy was in the system for two years and by then they should have realized what they had. Or at minimum, mitigate the risk with an extension that had voidable years at the end, not an early vested contract that is only advantageous to Cousins.
My only guess is they expected the cap to go way up under the new TV deal, which was entirely possible pre-COVID. But even then, the red flags were pretty abundant.
Unfortunately there's no way to take the full $41M cap hit next year. When they did the extension, they lowered this year's cap by converting a lot of what he was owed into a signing bonus. Signing bonuses are spread out over the life of the contract, so in this case, $10M per year. When you do that, you have to pay it out over that span no matter what. So whether he's kept, cut, or traded, he's at minimum a $10M cap hit in 2022.Which is why the Vikes should can Spielman after this season, hire a new GM, cut Cousins (take the full $41 million hit next year if that's allowed) and look to the future. Just accept the painful consequences and begin rebuilding in earnest (and please, let's not get into the debate about rebuilding means again).