Kirk Cousins ain’t buying the whole ‘We love you, Kirk’ routine from the Vikings. The former Minnesota signal-caller spilled the beans during an exclusive sit-down with Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel on the Scoop City: A Show about the NFL podcast.

Cousins straight-up said the Vikings were playing coy about their QB plans. Despite coach Kevin O’Connell’s public endorsement, Cousins sensed a different tune behind closed doors. “I don’t think they were ready to go there yet in March.” Cousins told the Scoop City hosts. “Kevin said, ‘hey, if we sign you back, it’s very unlikely we’d draft someone.’ But the league changes fast. I think they wanted the flexibility for themselves.”

The writing was on the wall. First off, Cousins’ contract was set to void on March 13—a date that would’ve slapped the Vikings with a hefty $28.5M dead cap hit if they re-signed him after that. The second reason emerged during the NFL scouting combine when ESPN’s Dan Graziano and other analysts highlighted how Atlanta has made Cousins their top target. 

The 35-year-old has always been about maximizing his paycheck, which brings us to the third reason. It’s a strategy that’s netted him a cool $230M since 2015. “I deal in reality. If you get one-year offers, then you do one-year offers. But if you get a better option, you take what you get!” the veteran QB revealed in the exclusive podcast interview. Besides, the Falcons’ offer was too sweet to pass up, and Vikings HC O’Connell knows it, too. “He’s earned the right to be a free agent,” he said. “I know he’s going to go through a full process.”

Minnesota’s GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was playing his cards close to the chest, talking about ‘creative solutions’ and ‘meeting in the middle.’ They wanted to keep their options open, and Cousins obviously wasn’t having it. So, while the Vikings might be publicly mourning the loss of their franchise QB, the reality is they were playing a high-stakes game of chicken, and Cousins blinked first. 

With Kirk Cousins leaving, let’s see how the Vikings QB situation shapes up with his potential replacement. 

Vikings pull the trigger on J.J McCarthy following Cousins’ departure 

The Vikings have locked in their new franchise QB: J.J McCarthy. They traded up with the Jets to the No. 10 overall pick to select Michigan’s McCarthy. To land their guy, Minnesota traded the 11th, 129th, and 157th overall picks to New York Jets for No. 10 and No. 203 overall, per NFL Media’s Mike Garofolo. 

It was a rollercoaster of emotions for McCarthy fans. With QBs flying off the board, it seemed like the Wolverines star might be waiting a bit longer. But guess what? The Vikings dialed him up, and just like that, McCarthy’s NFL journey kicked off with Minnesota.

Now, the spotlight’s on him. Can McCarthy steer the Vikings to glory? Only time will tell.