Cousins expects to resume Vikings contract negotiations next year

Quarterback Kirk Cousins will have a new Netflix show before reporting to Vikings training camp late next month, but he does not expect to have a new contract with the team.

Cousins, speaking to reporters after the team's final spring practice on Wednesday, said he anticipates playing out his current contract, which expires after this season. Cousins, who turns 35 in August, has previously said he wants to "earn the right" to retire in Minnesota.

Cousins' representatives and Vikings brass attempted a contract extension this offseason, but negotiations stalled before the mid-March opening to free agency. Those talks have not resumed, according to Cousins, and won't until 2024.

"I think we'll probably talk about the contract next March," Cousins said Wednesday, "and until then just focus on this season and the job to do right now."

This is familiar territory for Cousins. For the fourth time in his NFL career, he enters a season with no contract beyond the upcoming year. But this is the first time the Vikings and Cousins are drifting this close to a separation. His previous three contract years were played consecutively in Washington from 2015 through 2017.

Looking around the Vikings locker room — without former team captains Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen and Eric Kendricks — is a dose of reality. Cousins said he's pleased that the rest of the faces in the huddle are mostly the same for 2023.

Before taking questions, Cousins offered that he's "optimistically hoping" Cook re-signs with the Vikings. But a day earlier, head coach Kevin O'Connell thanked Cook — who was released last week after six Vikings seasons — and said, "I really hope he finds a great situation."

"There's always going to be change," Cousins said. "People you've played a lot of snaps with — like a Dalvin, like an Adam — can be a little more difficult. But you can also point to some guys who may not have been back that are, like a Garrett [Bradbury] or an Alex [Mattison]. So that's also exciting to have a lot of stability there, too."

"We've got an experienced group on offense," he added, "which is a real positive."

Cousins will be throwing to younger receivers and running backs — two positions where coaches have urged experienced players like Mattison and K.J. Osborn to set an example for the rest of their teammates.

"I'm very well aware of some of the leadership we've lost," O'Connell said, "and have challenged some guys to step up and really kind of harness those things from a lot of great players they have learned from over the years and become that next group of guys that can maintain a standard."

Entering Year 2, O'Connell is hoping to round out the offense after riding the passing game and receiver Justin Jefferson to rank eighth in scoring. The Vikings leaned heavily on three-receiver formations last year, but O'Connell said they will diversify with the addition of tight end Josh Oliver — a blocking complement to T.J. Hockenson — and by keeping fullback C.J. Ham.

"It's a way you can apply pressure," O'Connell said. "Can we apply pressure to the defense in different types of ways that you've got to defend us?"

Fans' first look at Cousins this summer will be on Netflix.

"Quarterback" premieres July 12 on the streaming service, where fans will get an inside look from cameras that followed Cousins in Minnesota, Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and Marcus Mariota in Atlanta through the 2022 season.

"I was a little nervous at first," Cousins said. "Cameras and mics following you the whole season. What does that look like? You're always very aware of never being individual. You want to be about team. … Both NFL Films and our organization did a good job of just making sure they were out of the way. It was subtle. It was never intrusive."

"It was just a good opportunity to let people see me a little bit," he added. "As I watched a couple edits, I realized there's going to be a few things to show my two boys in about 10 to 15 years. To say, 'This is what dad did. You were too young to remember it, but this was life and this is what it looked like.' It's going to be pretty powerful."