Vikings named the best potential head coaching opening
The Vikings’ 2021 season has not gone to plan.
Minnesota was seen as a playoff contender at the start of the year. The Vikings then started 0-2. The team has bounced back at various stages of 2021, but with each glimmer of hope, a despairing loss tends to follow in due time.
Minnesota has a few things going for it, though. With a young core of talent that has played good competition close this year, the Vikings don’t seem as far off from contending as, say, the Jaguars.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell seems to agree. Barnwell tabbed the Vikings as the best potential head coaching opening in the league. Barnwell said that Minnesota’s pros are talent on roster, patient ownership, veteran quarterback, while its cons are a lack of cap flexibility and a veteran quarterback.
Barnwell wrote:
“I’m including veteran quarterback as both a pro and a con as a bit of a joke, but I suspect that Kirk Cousins might be a blessing for some coaches and a hindrance to others. His numbers are surprisingly impressive this season, as he ranks in the top four in passer rating, adjusted net yards per attempt and touchdown-to-interception ratio. There aren’t many people in the NFL who perceive him to be that caliber of quarterback, though, and with a $45 million cap hit in 2022, the Vikings will be paying him as if he were an MVP candidate.
If they do decide to move on from longtime coach Mike Zimmer and/or general manager Rick Spielman, the first thing the new regime will have to do is solve the Cousins conundrum. Trading him would free up $35 million in desperately needed cap space, but the move would also leave them with rookie third-round pick Kellen Mond as the starting quarterback.”
Indeed, the team seems like a good quarterback on a cheaper contract away from being dangerous. Will the Vikings stick with Cousins? Will Cousins take a pay cut? Will the team try to find a new Vikings quarterback — either in the draft, free agency or the trade market? The next head coach will likely have a say in the matter.
