3 veteran quarterbacks SF 49ers can trade for in 2021
By Peter Panacy
SF 49ers Trade Target No. 3: Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings
As long as Kyle Shanahan and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins are not with the same team, there’s going to be some level of speculation the SF 49ers head coach will want his former protege with the Washington Football Team to be at the helm of his offense.
It’s something our friends over at The Viking Age argued, too, not long ago:
"With San Francisco only having one season with a winning record during Shanahan’s four years with the franchise, the team’s head coach isn’t really in a position to draft and develop a young quarterback over the next few seasons. He needs to get the 49ers back on track quickly or else he might be out of a job. So instead of a rookie passer, Shanahan could turn to an old friend of his in Cousins and see if the current Vikings signal-caller can help San Francisco get back to the playoffs in 2021."
If the Niners move on from Jimmy Garoppolo and don’t spend much in NFL free agency this offseason, they’d be able to afford the $21 million in base salary for next season with the Vikings eating a substantial $20 million in dead money.
That latter figure is a key reason why Minnesota doesn’t execute the deal. Yet there’s always a chance the Vikings want to tear things down this offseason, admitting giving that huge amount of money to Cousins in the first place was probably a mistake. While he’s been a good quarterback in Minnesota, he hasn’t been the guy. And the Vikings were intending on him being just that.
Things get a bit trickier in 2022, though, when Cousins is set to earn $35 million in base salary.
But if the San Francisco, more importantly, Shanahan, is set on making a move for Cousins, the hope would be an increase in salary cap that year from the estimated $176 million in 2021.