Kirk Cousins is expected to test the market ahead of free agency in March — and his asking price could leave the Minnesota Vikings with sticker shock.

Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters wrote on January 29 that Cousins, poised to reach free agency for the first time since 2018, is looking to secure a two-year deal with $90 million guaranteed.

“The buzz now is that it will take $90 million guaranteed for two years, despite that he’s still not yet fully recovered from Achilles surgery in November, to sign free agent QB Kirk Cousins,” Walters wrote. “If that’s the case, he certainly won’t get that from the Vikings.”

A contract worth $45 million a year would hold the largest annual value of Cousins’ career and rank eighth among quarterbacks entering the 2024 offseason.

Vikings Turned Down Team Discount From Cousins in 2023

Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensash has maintained he would like Cousins to return but wants to preserve the organization’s financial flexibility in the future. A two-year $90 million deal that is fully guaranteed would be extremely opposed to that goal.

During Adofo-Mensah’s news conference at the trade deadline just days after Cousins’ season-ending Achilles injury, he said that “every option” is available to Cousins as it was before his injury.

That likely includes a contract extension, but a deal that is significantly smaller than the “buzz” Walters is hearing.

The Star Tribune’s Andrew Krammer reported last year that the Vikings turned down a team discount from Cousins that was below Daniel Jones‘ $40 million annual mark he sealed after beating Minnesota in the NFC wild-card round.

Despite Cousins playing at an All-Pro level before his injury, Adofo-Mensah did not seem to be a prisoner of the moment when addressing the veteran quarterback’s future.

“We expected in Year 2 (with O’Connell) for him to take that step. Kevin and I have said that in the past, so seeing it happen was more just our expectation of a good player getting more comfortable in the system and taking ownership of it,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Really unfortunate that it happened, but again our all options are open as they were before the injury.”

Kirk Cousins Says Structure is More Important Than Money

The impasse in the Vikings-Cousins contract talks remains the guarantees in the deal.

“Multiple sources said the sides reached an impasse on the deal’s guarantee structure; Cousins’ camp wanted guaranteed money into 2025, while the Vikings were only willing to offer guarantees through 2024,” the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling wrote on January 8 regarding negotiations that happened ahead of the 2023 season.

“A two-year deal [in 2024] would get Cousins through 2025, while possibly giving the Vikings a window to draft and develop his successor, but the team will have to weigh its interest in giving Cousins the commitment he’s wanted, given the fact he’s coming off an injury and headed for his 36th birthday,” Goessling added.

Meanwhile, Cousins, who is reported to be ahead of his expected recovery, doubled down on the structure of the contract being more important than the price tag itself on locker cleanout day.

“Structure is probably more important,” Cousins said on January 8, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “Asked his definition of ‘structure,’ he said: ‘Everything that isn’t the dollars. That stuff you also work through.’ “