The Minnesota Vikings have undergone extensive quarterback changes after the retirement of legendary quarterback Brett Favre in 2010, which even his career did not end “with glory” when he played his final years with the Vikings at a pretty old age for a football player. Starting with him, the Vikings have been in an array of chaos at this position. While having some small runs in playoffs during some of these seasons of “chaos,” fans are now looking for a quarterback that can take it all the way to the super bowl, and even go another step further to actually win it. Kirk Cousins, however, just finished his first season with the team. This may make him seem like a rookie, but I can assure you he is not. Before coming to the Vikings in 2018, he has spent his entire NFL career with the Washington Redskins. You might be thinking “Oh great. This is another young quarterback who is hopping all over different teams benches, and is lacking experience when we need a starter.”

Kirk Cousins background and statistics being displayed on the televised coverage on the 2012 NFL Draft by ESPN.

Well, even I need to be reminded, that this man has been in the NFL since he was drafted late in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. So with his last six years being on the Redskins, along with his 2018 debut with the Vikings, what type of impact could he make for this Vikings team in the future? Let’s take a look at his characteristics and statistics.

1. The more Cousins played, the better his stats were.

This was a huge note towards success, and yet also potential failure, when you analyze it. What this shows is that Cousins is a very consistent quarterback, and when he gets repetition he can continue to perfect the finishing touches of a rather consistent game plan. As shown here, he has been under the tutorage of two different coaches while on the Redskins, and obviously a different head coach while being with the Vikings for only one season (2018). Now my big issue with this is quite simple. Whenever he undergoes a massive injury, or a huge change in coaching staff/play calling, can he be seen being able to adapt to that quickly. Sadly, from how he has shown his best work under a consistent atmosphere, I do not see him adapting to change well. However, being able to adapt is what makes a good quarterback. If you can make good plays on the spot, or even can quickly blend in to a new playing style, you are ready to face the unique obstacles that any defense may throw your way.

2. His touchdown to interception ratio is very good.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers. This is was his first touchdown pass of the 2018. The game took place on September 9th of that same year.

This is quite simple to explain, and luckily Cousins gave me very clean numbers to calculate (much appreciated Kirk). He has thrown for thirty touchdowns in his career, while only throwing ten career interceptions. For starters, that is one of the lowest interception amounts of any quarterback that has been in the league as long as he has been. In fact, there are multiple quarterbacks that currently sit at or beyond ten interceptions, and yet have been in the league for less time than Cousins has. He currently is in 20th place for lowest interception percentage thrown of all time. To finally get to his ratio, it simply is that he has been throwing three touchdown passes for every interception he has thrown. Definitely will take a quarterback that can, on average, put at least eighteen points up on the board before turning the ball over just once. 

3. He can throw that football quite far downfield.

Kirk’s lowest career-long pass went for sixty-two yards in 2013. Besides that slightly low stat, the rest of his seasons showed extreme length in his passing ability. He averages 7.6 yards gained per pass for his entire career, even counting the average 5.5 he got in that 2013 season. Furthermore, he has five of his longest seasonal passes between 75-81, and all of them were touchdown passes. I mean…just look at this:

He shows accuracy for sure, but a lot of “average” quarterbacks can do that. He can do it over huge pass lengths. Hell, he even makes a consistently accurate hail mary seem possible the way he throws.

Kirk Cousins has got a lot of strengths, but I think you all are about to be stunned by this one. I think he has proved to be a student that takes too long to learn the material, and is being surpassed in the classroom of diverse football play calling, mechanics, and multiple other kinds of adaptions needed for a game that always has new tricks and magicians for each season. Kirk cannot be that student, he doesn’t work well with new tricks, and he won’t be able to match some of the magicians that are and will be coming to his stage. I do not think Kirk Cousins is right for the QB hype.