INDIANAPOLIS – A year ago at the NFL scouting combine, as the Vikings marshaled their resources for a run at Kirk Cousins that would lead to the first fully guaranteed veteran contract in league history, coach Mike Zimmer stood at a podium and issued something of a word of caution about the potential effects of the team’s upcoming decision.
“The thing that I told [General Manager] Rick [Spielman] was, ‘Look, we’ve won this many games and these many years because of this football.’ Because we’ve played really good on defense for the most part,” Zimmer said on March 1, 2018.