Kirk Cousins will be playing quarterback at MetLife Stadium this weekend and that was something the Jets hoped would be the case when free agency got underway in March.
The difference is that they hoped he’d be playing at least seven other games on the field as their starting quarterback. As captured in a documentary about Cousins’ time as a free agent, the Jets offered him $90 million over three years but Cousins wound up using that offer to get the Vikings to up their own bid before signing in Minnesota.
The Jets moved on to re-sign Josh McCown and sign Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback while also adding the likes of cornerback Trumaine Johnson, linebacker Avery Williamson and running back Isaiah Crowell in free agency. They drafted quarterback Sam Darnold the next month and the rookie said that he’d been following Cousins’ process play out before he knew he’d be on the Jets.
“I was definitely following it,” Darnold said, via the New York Daily News. “During the draft process, there’s nothing really else to pay attention to. Because I’m not on a team. We’re not trying to dial up anything. I’m not at USC trying to figure out what we’re going to do the next year. And I’m not on an NFL team trying to figure it out. ... Everything worked out for the best, I think.”
That tells us Darnold has no regrets about how things played out and it’s hard to imagine Cousins, the Jets or the Vikings wanting a mulligan on the offseason either.