Back in September 2023, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson said he “would love for” the club to hold onto quarterback Kirk Cousins. Jefferson didn’t get his wish, as Cousins reached free agency this past March and then signed a four-year, $180M contract that included $100M guaranteed to join the Atlanta Falcons.

Ahead of this Sunday’s game between the 6-6 Falcons and 10-2 Vikings held at Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium, Jefferson touched upon what he learned from Cousins when the two were teammates from 2020 through the end of last season.

“Just seeing him, and seeing his day-to-day routine, seeing how he comes to work every day, and how he’s on the playbook, how he’s studying hard every single day, how he’s so much into the book — I love that about him,” Jefferson said about Cousins, as shared by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “And just his work ethic, and just him as a person is great, always. It’s always great to have a quarterback that you can joke around with and be yourself with and just to have his locker right next to mine, and talk to him every single day, and be with him every single day — it was definitely a great experience.”

Cousins featured for the Vikings from 2018 through last season. One can only wonder what might have been for the Cousins-Jefferson partnership had the signal-caller not gone down with a torn Achilles during a game held on Oct. 29, 2023, as that setback proved to be the beginning of the end of Cousins’ Minnesota tenure.

With Cousins as his full-time QB1 over the years, Jefferson became a superstar worthy of putting pen to paper on a massive four-year, $140M contract extension that included $110M guaranteed in June.

Jefferson said he feels the events of the offseason “worked out both ways” considering Cousins got paid and the Vikings landed a bridge quarterback in Sam Darnold who helped the club win 10 of its first 12 games of the ongoing campaign. The 25-year-old added he will “always respect Kirk and always will be thankful for what he has done for me.”

Some have speculated that Cousins could lose his job to rookie Michael Penix Jr. as soon as next week if Atlanta suffers a fourth straight loss. As of Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Vikings as six-point favorites over the Falcons.

What’s done is done, but Cousins probably won’t feel his decision “worked out both ways” if he’s benched before Christmas and/or is released when the new league year opens in March 2025.