NFL Rumors: 49ers, Rams set for ‘tug of war’ to sign $30M QB next year
The San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams are both facing major question marks over their quarterback situations.
The 49ers are hopeful that Brock Purdy will be healthy when the next season begins, and they also have Trey Lance on the roster to provide competition after they traded so many assets to acquire him.
The Rams, on the other hand, are expecting Matthew Stafford to be healthy, but concerns over his elbow are loud and clear and he's already 35 years old.
Since there's no certainty about who's going to be their respective quarterbacks of the future, the answer to both of their problems might be lying across the country - and if the QB in question does indeed reach free agency, we might see a bidding war between the 49ers and the Rams for his services.
San Francisco and Los Angeles will be paying close attention to Kirk Cousins' final contract year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2023, according to Mike Florio:
"Unless the Vikings resign him by then and they can't use the franchise tag on in 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 to mark that down".
Kirk Cousins to the 49ers or Rams? Quarterback has played for Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay - at the same time
Both teams are a logical landing spot for Cousins if he does indeed leave the Minnesota Vikings, especially because he could move to a contender and earn a lot of money while playing for an offensive genius.
Which one? Doesn't matter, as notably, he has worked directly with both.
When Cousins was drafted by the Washington Commanders in 2012, Kyle Shanahan was his offensive coordinator while Sean McVay worked as the tight ends coach there. This dynamic continued for two years until 2014 when Shanahan was fired alongside his father [and head coach] Mike Shanahan.
This led to Sean McVay being promoted to offensive coordinator, a job he held until he was hired as the Los Angeles Rams head coach in 2017. For Shanahan, he had stints as the offensive coordinator for both the Cleveland Browns and the Atlanta Falcons until he got became the San Francisco 49ers head coach the same year as McVay.
Kirk Cousins worked with McVay until 2016 and he later became a free agent, signing a fully-guaranteed contract with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018.