Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins tops CBS Sports' list of top 100 NFL free agents
MINNEAPOLIS — Kirk Cousins' agent is going to be very busy over the next few weeks.
Cousins, 35, is set to hit free agency on March 13. According to CBS Sports' Pete Prisco, Cousins will be the No. 1 free agent in the entire league. Prisco released his list of the top 100 free agents on Wednesday, and Cousins tops the list.
"Cousins is a good quarterback, the kind who can take a good team to the Super Bowl and win it," Prisco wrote. "He is coming off a torn Achilles tendon, but he should be ready for the open of the 2024 season, which makes him a starter of value in a league where teams crave that type of player under center."
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Prisco predicts Cousins will sign a new deal with the Vikings, but if he does indeed hit the free agent market, he'll likely have plenty of suitors. Before his injury, Cousins was arguably having the best season of his career. He's definitely entering the latter stage of his career, but there's nothing to suggest he'll have a precipitous decline just yet.
The Vikings have another free agent in the top five — pass rusher Danielle Hunter, right at No. 5.
"He had 16.5 sacks last season and remains a top edge player," Prisco writes. "The Vikings will likely do what they can to keep him because it's hard to find good edge players."
Hunter signed a one-year deal with the Vikings last offseason, but has been seeking an improved contract for several years now. Pass rushers are in high demand, particularly ones as good as Hunter, so the Vikings could be outbid.
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Two other Vikings are on Prisco's list — pass rusher D.J. Wonnum at No. 63 and guard Dalton Risner at No. 91.
Wonnum, Prisco said, would be a "nice third rusher or spot starter" for a rush-needy team. The 26-year-old actually spent much of last season as a starter for the Vikings with No. 2 pass rusher Marcus Davenport — also a free agent — sidelined due to injury. Wonnum finished the season on injured reserve with a torn quad.
Risner started last season watching the NFL from home before the Vikings signed him in mid-September. The team was so confident in his play, it traded starting guard Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings don't have another great option at guard, so a deal with Risner would make sense.
Aside from their own free agents, the Vikings could be players on the market due to a roster with plenty of holes to fill. The team has some cap space to play with, and could free up more depending on what happens with Cousins, whether they extend Justin Jefferson and how they decide to move forward with veterans like safety Harrison Smith.
