Yes, the Vikings Could Pay Both Cousins and Jefferson if They Wanted To

"You're not going to be able to afford both Justin (Jefferson) at a high number and Kirk Cousins at the number that he's probably going to be able to command in free agency," ESPN's Dan Orlovsky said on The Pat McAfee Show last week.

Orlovsky isn't alone in thinking that way. He's also wrong. The Vikings absolutely could afford to sign both Jefferson and Cousins to market-rate contract extensions. Heck, they could do so in a way that would give them more 2024 cap space than they currently have. It's just a path that GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah might ultimately choose not to go down.

Right now, if the Vikings do nothing, they'll have north of $48 million in cap hits on their books from Cousins and Jefferson this year. That's $28.5 million in dead money that would hit their books if Cousins' contract voids as scheduled on March 13th, plus $19.7 million for Jefferson's fifth-year option.

If the Vikings sign Cousins to a new deal before that void date, they could spread out the $28.5 million from his void years and reduce his cap hit in 2024. That's true even if they sign him to something like a three-year, $135 million, fully-guaranteed contract. The same goes for Jefferson, although there's no dead money involvement. If they sign him to a five-year, $175 million extension on top of the fifth-year option, they could structure it in a way that would lower his 2024 cap hit.

Of course, Orlovsky and others aren't just talking about 2024 when they make the point that the Vikings can't afford to sign both players. They're talking about the future, too, and it's true that the Vikings would be committing a ton of future money to Cousins and Jefferson in this situation. But there are always ways to manage the salary cap — which is only going up — and make things work financially.

Ultimately, the Vikings might choose not to give Cousins a market-rate contract in free agency this spring — but not because they can't. They're probably going to set a maximum price that they're willing to pay, as part of their team-building strategy for the next few years. They may end up deciding that the better path is to give Jefferson a record-breaking contract, sign a cheaper bridge veteran at quarterback, and make a move for a QB in this year's draft.

But again, if they want to sign Jefferson, sign Cousins, and run it back, they unquestionably could do that.

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