Minnesota Vikings place QB Kirk Cousins officially on injured reserve

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday made it official: quarterback Kirk Cousins is on the injured reserve list. This comes a day after the team confirmed Cousins has a torn Achilles.

Though the team hasn't said as much at this point, the type of Achilles injury Cousins suffered over the weekend will almost certainly keep him out for the rest of the season, based on historical analogs.

Cousins suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win over the Green Bay Packers. He hopped off the field before being carted back to the locker room. Shortly after that, the Vikings ruled him out for the remainder of the game.

"Kirk Cousins loves playing this game," head coach Kevin O'Connell said on Monday. "Takes a lot of pride in playing this game and being as durable as he's been throughout his career so this is new for him."

The Vikings are now 4-4 and firmly in the playoff hunt, with things looking up over the last few games, and a reasonably friendly slate of matchups forthcoming.

Thankfully, they have also set up some help in the QB department. Also on Tuesday, the team announced a trade for Arizona Cardinals QB Josh Dobbs. The Vikings are sending a sixth-round pick to the Cardinals for Dobbs and a conditional seventh-round pick.

Dobbs started eight games for Arizona this season while starter Kyler Murray was recovering from a torn ACL. He completed 62.8% of his passes for 1,569 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions. He's also scored three rushing touchdowns.  

The Vikings are on the road again this weekend against the Atlanta Falcons. It will mark just the third game Cousins has missed since taking over as the Vikings' QB in 2018.

Cousins' injury is the same one New York jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered in week one of the regular season. Rodgers will miss the entire regular season, the Jets have said.

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