Kirk Cousins Landing Spots: Which Teams Make the Most Sense?

The Longshots

Bills: 9/1

Giants: 14/1

Jaguars 14/1

Dolphins: 20/1

After the four aforementioned teams, the odds get a little longer for everyone else, but anything can happen in the NFL offseason -- as we were reminded with last week's blockbuster Alex Smith trade. The four squads listed here are all in different spots. The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins are ostensibly a ways away from winning while the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills were in the postseason in 2017.

Buffalo could move on from Tyrod Taylor, so they make some sense, but their playoff berth last year was very misleading as our numbers had them as the fourth-worst team in the league. The Giants have said Eli Manning will be back next year, which would likely rule them out of the Cousins sweepstakes, but you never know.

The Jags have a very interesting decision on their hands with Blake Bortles. By now, we pretty much know what Bortles is: he's unlikely to be the reason Jacksonville wins, but he played well enough in the playoffs -- on the road against good teams in Pittsburgh and New England -- that he wasn't the reason the Jags lost. With that said, the Jags can move on from Bortles without any cap consequences, and they could be a good quarterback away from being set up for a lengthy run of Super Bowl contention.

Miami is a surprise team in all of this since they have Ryan Tannehill coming back next year. Head coach Adam Gase said Tannehill was going to be their guy in 2018, but the 'Fins have been linked with Cousins and incoming rookie Baker Mayfield. Miami has the fourth-least cap space heading into the offseason, so they'd have to do some major work to free up the necessary cash. It doesn't seem like a logical fit, but if Miami isn't sold on Tannehill -- and there's been enough smoke this offseason to think that could be the case -- they could pursue Cousins.

There's one more team at play here -- the Minnesota Vikings. Bovada doesn't have the Vikes listed among the favorites, but other betting sites have Minnesota as a real possibility.

The Vikings -- much like the Jags -- have a roster that's ready-made to contend right now. One of Minnesota's few "weak" spots is quarterback, although Case Keenum played very well in 2017. Even if Minnesota doesn't want to get involved in the race for Cousins, they are going to have a fascinating offseason as Keenum, Sam Bradford and possibly (it's complicated) Teddy Bridgewater are all set to hit the open market, leaving one of the league's best teams with a glaring hole at quarterback.

If Cousins' main goal is to go to a contender, the Vikings -- one of the early 2018 Super Bowl favorites despite their uncertainty under center -- would almost have to be on his shortlist, something that appears to be the case.