Could Kirk Cousins be on the 49ers in 2024?

So a week ago, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins confirmed he didn’t expect an extension with the Vikings. That would make him a free agent in 2024. And I quickly said a certain person with a large platform would be giving us some shred of “hope” that Cousins would be coming to the San Francisco 49ers hard.

Well it took a little over a week before that narrative appeared. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio went to old faithful which was the 49ers and the Rams go into a bidding war to get Cousins.

“Let’s play it out to March of next year. I think you’re going to see, unless the Vikings re-sign him by then, and they can’t use the franchise tag on him the way his contract is structured. You’re going to see a potential tug-of-war between Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay for Kirk Cousins next March. Mark that down. “

We haven’t even figured out who the quarterback in 2023 is going to be. That debate will leave 49ers social media a dystopian wasteland. But we’re going to predict 2024? Well the 49ers lost the last tug-of-war to the Rams when they pushed everything in for Matthew Stafford. A quarterback I may add carries a hefty $86 million dead money hit if cut before June 1, 2024 per overthecap.com

I guess if you predict the same thing over and over again, you’re going to be right eventually. But hey, 49ers QB talk generates traffic here, and since I was burnt out on the Brock Purdy vs. Trey Lance vs. Sam Darnold debate since March, here’s a different quarterback to talk about.

So, Kirk Cousins. Can he come to the 49ers? Would they have another bidding war with the Los Angeles Rams?

I’ll just stop it all right now: No. It won’t happen. Be as you were.

Barring an absolute, cataclysmic disaster, the 49ers have far too many cheaper options to be considering Kirk Cousins. He isn’t getting the contract he got with Minnesota, but he’s going to get something. Money is one of the main reasons the 49ers traded up for Trey Lance in the first place. Money is the reason why if Brock Purdy works out, the 49ers are in a perfect position to be active putting pieces around the QB position and Nick Bosa. So there’s two quarterbacks on contract they can roll with in 2024.

And if one of those two aforementioned quarterbacks who are actually on the team is serviceable, they’ll stay. The 49ers can’t afford to take on a veteran quarterback in the Kirk Cousins tier salary when they have Nick Bosa and Brandon Aiyuk beckoning the Brinks truck. If we’re talking about Aaron Rodgers, that’s a different story, but sorry to say, Kirk Cousins isn’t Aaron Rodgers.

The absolute disaster would have to be Trey Lance, Brock Purdy, and Sam Darnold by extension royally stinking up the joint and the 49ers are left with no alternative but to blow the position up and go get Cousins. There will be serious consequences to the roster if they go this route because they have made decisions thinking they would have a quarterback on a rookie deal taking snaps. Sam Darnold might just be cheaper if he were to be extended.

Cousins may not get $35 million a year, but he’d probably get in the neighborhood of $10-$20 Million. The lower end is pretty much the maximum the 49ers would be able to offer without putting themselves into salary cap hell.

Since this has been predicted over and over again to the same consistency of failure, I’m sure it will be my luck that it happens. If it does, I’ll admit I was wrong and clearly don’t know anything.

But, lets leave 2023 and this exhausting QB debate behind. Let’s power the flux capacitor and hop into our DeLorean and go to the distant future of 2024. Do you see the 49ers going into a bidding war with the Rams for the services of Kirk Cousins? Do you see Cousins at 35 reuniting with Kyle Shanahan.