The Minnesota Vikings do not have Kirk Cousins under contract after the 2023 season and won’t be able to franchise tag him. This could mean quite a few things for the future of the Vikings franchise, but it could also mean that Cousins plays for a different team in 2024.

Cousins will be 36 years old at the beginning of the 2024 season, but there’s little sign that he’s slowing down. Wear and tear mean a lot less for quarterbacks, but it’s certainly relevant that he didn’t play much at the beginning of his career, acting as a backup for Robert Griffin III in Washington.

Cousins is famously durable, too, and hasn’t missed a game for a non-COVID-related injury once in the NFL. Cousins ranks 23rd of 65 quarterbacks with at least 300 plays since 2018 in EPA per play but crucially ranks sixth among the nine quarterbacks who have had 3,000 plays in that span of time. Of those with 2,000 snaps, he ranks 10th of 22.

We look at which teams might entertain signing the good-but-never-great quarterback from Michigan State.

Where Will Kirk Cousins Play in 2024?

San Francisco 49ers

It’s been no secret that Kyle Shanahan has admired Cousins since coaching him in Washington, and they’ve nearly reunited in San Francisco, with the 49ers eventually opting for Jimmy Garoppolo and Cousins forced to enter true free agency, choosing the Vikings.

There could still be mutual interest, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. In a recent podcast with Rich Eisen, Florio said he wouldn’t be surprised if the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams were in a “tug-of-war” over the quarterback.

There are reasons to be concerned about whether or not Brock Purdy can sustain the level of success he saw late last season, especially given his injury. Even without the arm injury, he could be in line for a regression-related slump because of his limitations as a passer. Plus, Trey Lance is potentially third on the depth chart behind Purdy and Sam Darnold.

Relevant for Shanahan: He’s rarely had healthy quarterbacks for one reason or another. He dealt with injuries to RGIII and has had multiple injuries plague his quarterbacks in San Francisco, whether that’s been Garoppolo multiple times or backups like C.J. Beathard, Lance, or Purdy. Having someone with the continued availability of Cousins, who can play in Shanahan’s system with remarkable efficiency, might be ideal.

If Purdy and Lance both disappoint, Cousins will be on their radar.

Los Angeles Rams

The other team Florio said could be interested in Cousins are the Rams, who currently don’t have a successor in place for Matthew Stafford, whose injury-shortened 2022 season already gave cause for concern. After fending off retirement rumors all offseason, Stafford decided to continue playing for a Rams roster that now looks more depleted than ready.

This doesn’t look like a Super Bowl-contending roster, but it doesn’t take much to turn a team around. If the Rams are out of position to draft a quarterback — or if McVay doesn’t feel like developing one — they could sign Cousins and then trade out of their draft position for more picks to immediately restock the roster.

Thus far, McVay has taken two quarterbacks who aren’t ideal fits for his system and made them remarkably efficient. Having a quarterback purpose-built for the McVay/Shanahan offense with requisite experience in the system might be what McVay needs to keep his excitement for the Rams job.

New England Patriots

Mac Jones had a promising rookie year with the Patriots, but his 2022 was very disappointing. Neither he nor Bailey Zappe look like potential franchise quarterbacks. It could be the case that with an offensive coordinator more familiar with designing and calling offensive plays, Jones could get back on the trajectory he was on two years ago.

But even after accounting for his poor situation last year, there were reasons to be concerned about what Jones could do — his arm talent and ability to threaten every area of the field are problems for a quarterback so dependent on in-pocket play.

Cousins is no scrambler, but he could be an upgraded version of Jones in this respect, with the ability to drive the ball deeper downfield and into tighter windows.

Atlanta Falcons

If Desmond Ridder disappoints in his second year, Cousins could play for another member of the Shanahan/McVay tree in Arthur Smith. There would be a capable skill corps there and the kind of run-focused offense that the Vikings hope to implement this year.

Smith might be the most creative play-designer of the tree, so pairing Smith with Cousins could mean some explosive outcomes, especially with Kyle Pitts and Drake London on the receiving end.

Minnesota Vikings

And, of course, none of this could matter. The Vikings might play themselves out of consideration for a quarterback in the 2024 draft and might find themselves genuinely looking at a medium-term contract extension for Cousins.

He naturally knows the system and the playmakers extremely well and had his best record as a Viking under Kevin O’Connell, who he seems to have a strong relationship with. O’Connell has developed Cousins in a way that we haven’t seen before, letting his strengths atrophy a bit while aggressively shoring up his weaknesses.

Cousins has been more improvisational, aggressive, and creative under O’Connell than any other offensive play-caller he’s had before, and that might be something he values going forward. If the defense improves under new defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Minnesota may be a situation he’d be loathed to leave.

The Rest of the NFC North

It’s worth noting that the rest of the NFC North could also find a reason to move on from their quarterback situation. It’s difficult to find confidence in Jared Goff, so if he falls off despite how excellent the rest of the Lions’ roster is, that would be reason enough to look for another signal-caller.

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson doesn’t come from the Shanahan tree, but he employs a number of similar concepts that could make Cousins comfortable, and the play-action-oriented offense is something he’s very familiar with.

The Packers might find out that Jordan Love is not the answer at quarterback and could look outside the organization for Aaron Rodgers’ successor. Matt LaFleur has Shanahan experience and could be interested in Cousins.

And the Bears have no guarantees with Justin Fields. If the coaching staff doesn’t like his development — or if the Bears move on from this coaching staff — Cousins could end up there as a bridge quarterback to his eventual successor. The possibilities are endless inside the division.