Advertisement

Jets and their fans still seem upset over Kirk Cousins jilting them

Frank Schwab
NFL writer
Kirk Cousins turned down a huge offer from the Jets to sign with the Vikings. (AP)
Kirk Cousins turned down a huge offer from the Jets to sign with the Vikings. (AP)

Mostly, it seems tough to dislike Kirk Cousins. The Minnesota Vikings quarterback has his quirks, but he appears to be polite.

The New York Jets don’t seem to like him.

One of the main stories in New York this week, as the Vikings prepare to come in and play the Jets, is what happened in March. Cousins said he was offered $30 million per season by the Jets. That allowed him some leverage to get the Vikings to increase their offer of $25 million per season. He signed in Minnesota for $28 million per season.

That’s how we ended up with headlines like “How sweet it will be for Jets to shut up classless Kirk Cousins” in New York this week.

Kirk Cousins made the Jets’ offer public

That New York Post story — most New York outlets relived the Cousins courtship, it’s just that the column from Mark Cannizzaro of the Post got the splashiest headline — focused not necessarily on Cousins turning down the Jets but how he made their offer public.

A documentary video outlining how Cousins landed in Minnesota was posted on the Vikings site. Cousins, who had spent the first part of his career with the Washington Redskins but was one of the most coveted free agents in NFL history last March, told his wife on the video that the Jets offered $30 million fully guaranteed over three years. Then Cousins outlined how that deal would get the Vikings to increase their offer.

“So now we have what we wanted. [His agent, Mike McCartney] has to do the same thing with the Vikings,” Cousins said, via the Post. “He’s got to get them from 25 to a number that is competitive with the Jets’ offer. But the fact that we have the Jets offer is huge. Now it gives the other teams a reason to come up.”

Cousins isn’t the first person to use one job offer to get a better offer from someone else. But making it public was apparently a no-no in the NFL world. The Jets felt used, which is noted in every story out of New York this week.

Cousins says nice things about the Jets

This all seems rather petty, but because Cousins is playing the Jets this week he felt the need to try and put out the fires.

“That show was meant to show the journey and meant to show how impressed I was with the Minnesota Vikings,” Cousins said, via Newsday. “It was not meant to be a slight to anybody else.

“I have tremendous respect for coach [Todd] Bowles. I’ve played against him. He’s had my lunch a couple of times. Jeremy Bates, their offensive coordinator, is a phenomenal coach and play-caller; he’s doing a great job this year. So it was really meant to show the Vikings as a great fit for us, nothing more.”

Cousins doesn’t have much to apologize for. The Vikings eventually upped their offer to $84 million over three years, and Cousins took less to pick them over the Jets. The Vikings offered a chance to win right away, and that was worth Cousins taking a little less. NFL teams make cold-blooded business decisions all the time, and they shouldn’t get their feelings hurt when players do the same. But the Jets apparently didn’t forget.

Jets, Vikings happy with their QBs

It all worked out fine. The Jets got very lucky when the Giants passed on quarterback Sam Darnold, allowing the Jets to take the USC quarterback third overall (let’s pause for a moment and reflect that if the Giants took Darnold, which they should have done, the Jets’ trade up to No. 3 would have been awful … but it worked out). The Jets should be quite pleased with Darnold, who has played well. He fits a rebuilding Jets team better than the 30-year-old Cousins anyway. Meanwhile, Cousins has played very well for the Vikings.

It still seems as if New York hasn’t totally forgotten Cousins using the Jets to drive up the Vikings’ offer. It might not matter on Sunday, but Cousins might hear a little extra from the Jets fans.

More Vikings news from Yahoo

More from Yahoo Sports:
• 2003 rape allegations cost Kobe spot on film festival jury
• Controversial call wipes out Astros home run
• NFL owners take a knee in waning anthem controversy
• Dan Wetzel: Gymnastics scandal secrets may finally go public

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Subscribe to The Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast
 Apple Podcasts• Stitcher • Google Podcasts