NFL Pundit Gives Scathing Indictment of Kirk Cousins Extension
As one might imagine, the news of Kirk Cousins’ extension with the Minnesota Vikings was not met with glee by all.
Cousins is a divisive athlete, possessing a persona in which onlookers of the Vikings undyingly assert he should play elite like Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers. The problem? Cousins is not elite, instead around the 11th-best quarterback in the business every year. And he’s usually about the eighth-highest-paid quarterback in all the land, so folks debate the three-spot variance endlessly.
Because the Vikings hired a new general manager and head coach this offseason, some perceived those moves as an obvious and forthcoming trigger for the organization to trade Cousins. Conversely, the new leadership regime waltzed in, watched the tape, analyzed the contract, reviewed the market, and re-upped with Cousins for a total of two more years.
The extension was especially viewed with venom by Walter Cherepinsky, the proprietor of WalterFootball.com. The website grades the free-agent moves in real-time, and the Cousins-to-Vikings trilogy was assigned an ‘F’ grade. Of all offseason moves to date — there are a bunch — Cousins’ extension was the only transaction to receive such a dastardly grade.
Here’s the rationale from Walter Football:
“Didn’t the Vikings hire a new general manager this offseason? This actually happened, right? I imagine Viking fans are asking themselves this question, perhaps pinching themselves in the process to see if they’re awake. Why is the new Minnesota front office making the same mistake as the previous one? The Vikings have once again given Cousins a fully guaranteed contract. Sure, they’re saving $14 million in cap space this season, but they’re just digging themselves into a deeper hole, and for what? They can’t advance deep into the playoffs with Cousins because he’s not great enough to offset all the roster moves Minnesota had to make in order to compensate for his albatross of a contract. The Vikings would be better off moving on from him and beginning anew, yet they’re just prolonging the inevitable.”
– WalterFootball.com
And that’s pretty brutal.
Cousins will get one or two cracks to disprove Walter in 2022 and 2023, hoping to replicate the Matthew Stafford path from Detroit to Los Angeles. Before Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in January 2021, he showcased a 74-90-1 “quarterback record.” But nobody cared. Stafford, with the Lions, was habitually afforded universal sympathy. Detroit was classified as a loser franchise, chided for poor defense and coaching. Stafford even played with Calvin Johnson for seven seasons. Still, fans bemoaned Stafford’s lack of weapons and “poor guy” plight in the Motor City.
Cousins is not afforded Stafford-like leeway. He has never been — and never will be. The reasons are undetermined.
“Poor defense” or “poor coaching” was totally sensical evidence to explain Stafford’s lack of success in Detroit. When one mentions anything of the ilk pertaining to Cousins in Washington or Minnesota, those reasons are called “excuses,” or retorts sound something like, “Oh, so Cousins is the unluckiest guy in the world, huh?” Nuance is allowable for Stafford, not Cousins. It’s strange.
In any event, with the new coaching staff, Cousins will get ample chances to replicate the Stafford blueprint.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. His YouTube Channel, VikesNow, debuts in March 2022. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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