Nothing fascinates me more than life as a general manager. The high leverage decisions that general managers have to make in sports is better than a lot of things in life. For years and years, the Washington Redskins were heavily scrutinized for failing to sign Kirk Cousins to a long term contract. Cousins signed a three-year deal worth $84 million this past offseason with the Minnesota Vikings. As the season has progressed, one thing is clear. The Redskins were right about Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins stinks.
Everyone was excited about the Vikings season outlook this season. They went 13-3 a year ago and were about to upgrade the quarterback position. From Case Keenum to Kirk Cousins, how could the Vikings not improve? The entire team was essentially returning. The Vikings are off to a mediocre start to the 2018 season currently sitting at 6-6-1. The Vikings are the epitome of average. The reason why the Vikings are average is because Kirk Cousins stinks. He isn’t average, Cousins flat out sucks.
Minnesota offensive coordinator, John DeFilippo was fired this week. Yeah, I’m sure it’s his fault. DeFilippo was hired from the Eagles after their Super Bowl run who would eventually replace Pat Shurmur. Was DeFillipo perfect? No. Some of his play calling seemed flat. They weren’t running the ball nearly enough. The offensive line was struggling. The explosive plays haven’t been apparent as they were a year ago. The problem is you can only do so much with a quarterback who stinks.
Let’s look at the facts. Kirk Cousins is 0-7 in his career on Monday Night Football after losing to Seattle. He failed to score until garbage time to a Seahawks team that had 60 yards passing. Cousins is 4-13 in prime time games. Cousins has never won a playoff game in his 7 years in the NFL. Cousins has won just 36 percent of his road games. Cousins is 4-24 lifetime against teams that are over .500. Now Cousins has the Vikings defense which is as good as it gets. There is no excuse. He just flat out sucks.
Didn’t the Redskins tell you all that you needed to know? Washington drafted him. They developed him as a backup. They groomed him to be the savior after RG3 fell apart. They gave him offensive weapons signing DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon in prior offseasons. Jordan Reed is a top tight end talent when healthy. Washington’s defense has never been a disaster and they spent numerous draft picks putting together a dominant offensive line. Stop sticking up for Cousins.
The Vikings went 13-3 a year ago. This team hasn’t changed. They still have Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and Kyle Rudolph. Dalvin Cook is even healthy now and the Vikings for whatever reason hasn’t been using him. The only thing that’s changed is Kirk Cousins. There is no stat line that you can pull up to defend Kirk Cousins. Minnesota is totally screwed moving forward and will have to part with talent young pieces because Cousins makes too much money. With the weather getting colder, Cousins isn’t going to improve his stats.
Too many times in the media we talk shit on teams that make bad decisions. Washington made the right call letting Kirk Cousins walk. The only problem is they handed that money to Alex Smith who is slightly better or maybe worse but who also stinks. Smith is about to lose his leg so the Redskins need a quarterback anyway. It’s a lesson every team should keep in the back of their memory bank. Jared Goff, Mitch Trubisky, Marcus Mariota, and Dak Prescott. If I’m a gm of those teams, there’s no shot I’m paying any of them big money.
