The NFL is waiting for the biggest quarterback domino to fall this season — and that’s what the Minnesota Vikings will do with Kirk Cousins.

Cousins is the top free-agent quarterback that could become available when his contract voids on March 13. The Vikings have played coy about their desire to keep Cousins, maintaining they want him, but on a deal that does not compromise their future spending potential.

The new Vikings regime signed him to a single-year extension two years ago to lower his cap hit for the 2022 season that bore a 13-4 season and an NFC North title. They held contract talks last year but could not come to an agreement.

Not much has changed since despite Cousins suffering a torn Achilles midway through the 2023 season. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that all options available for Cousins to stay in Minnesota are on the table.

That likely includes an offer that has not satisfied Cousins. Instead, he’s poised to entertain his market in free agency. Cousins will learn his value in free agency in less than two weeks when his representation talks with executives at the NFL Scouting Combine starting February 26.

While free agency doesn’t begin for several more weeks after the combine, by then, it could already be too late for the Vikings.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio cautioned the Vikings should make the final call before Cousins’ camp gets to the combine, especially if another team blows the Vikings’ offer out of the water.

“They don’t want to throw a dart in the dark, they want to see what the market will bear, and then they can say, ‘Alright, we’ll pay you that,’ ” Florio speculated on the Vikings’ aloof KFAN’s Paul Allen on February 14. “If that is the approach, that’s a mistake.”

Vikings Urged to Show True Intentions With QB Kirk Cousins

After spending time with C0usins on- and off-air during Super Bowl week, Florio’s urged the Vikings to either lock Cousins up or let him walk and make it public before the start of the combine.

He questioned the Vikings’ intentions with their contract negotiations and argued the sit-and-wait approach would only backfire when they realize the type of contract Cousins could attract in free agency.

From Florio’s appearance on KFAN:

Here’s what we don’t know. We don’t know what they have decided to do (at quarterback). Have they set a limit to what they’re going to pay him? Have they decided to move on and they want to make it look like it’s him being greedy and grabbing his bag elsewhere? Have they decided to see what someone else will offer him and then they’ll try to match it?…

Once someone else puts big dollars on the table, Kirk may say, ‘It’s too late. You had your chance. You let me consider what it would be like to go elsewhere. You low-balled me, or you no-balled me.’ Basically, why isn’t the deal already done? Why didn’t they get it done when they knew the surgery on his torn Achilles tendon was a success? The longer you wait the more expensive it gets.

Don’t drag your feet because you’re going to end up paying more later. If you want him, do it now.

Vikings Past Negotiations Signal Cousins’ Departure

In past contract negotiations, the new Vikings regime has drawn a hard line of what they would pay a player and have yet to stray.

Last offseason’s release of longtime fan favorites Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen is evidence the new regime will not bend when it comes to creating flexibility with their cap space for the future.

Cousins could be the exception, however, the Vikings are also not naive to the competing offers he could attract.

The line appears to be drawn and if a deal is not done before the combine, Cousins is likely on his way out.