In retrospect, the Cousins ​​deal was / is theft



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I’ve spent week after week since the start of the 2018 season trying to figure out why Minnesota Vikings fans were spending so much of their personal energy explaining the potential first quarterback we’ve ever had as millennials (this was not immediately cut by a Bridgewater or Culpepper knee injury). Apart from the emotional attachment to Teddy, then Case Keenum, I duty thinks the real reason comes down to dollars and cents.

Breaking news: The Vikings gave Kirk Cousins ​​the biggest contract in NFL history for 2018. Many immediately felt that the Vikings not only paid too much, but wasted their chance to capitalize over years of team building measured by overspending cap QB.

It was then.

Now? Is this really fair call the Cousins ​​agreement one of those things?

As expected, once most of the elite QBs saw Cousins ​​deal, they all reworked their deals to make sure that if Cousins ​​didn’t just make that money, but that guaranteed money, they should win. more. And do more than they have.

The most obvious and extreme example of this is the new face of NFL Patrick Mahomes, who according to Betway signed a 10-year contract for $ 450 million this offseason.

This isn’t the best example of how or why the Cousins ​​deal made sense to the Vikings in 2018, although it does explain why Cousins ​​will receive a $ 45 million guarantee in 2022 once the first second of the first day of the first. week of the start of the 2021 season.

So let’s go looked at Cousins, deal first in different ways. First, the current percentage of the Vikings salary cap that his deal includes, to see where his numbers stand and what that means for the rest of the Vikings cap.

As you can see, the Cousins ​​agreement is 16.65% of the Viking cap. When you look at Cousins’ peers, and also the fact that he’s the second-most quarterback in NFL history, it seems like money well spent by a franchise that hasn’t had the same QB playing back to back 16- seasons of play since 1978.

From now on, I’ll repost an article I wrote last season before Cousins ​​helped the Vikings upset the Saints in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs (behind the 27th pass nonetheless blocking the offensive line), as well as an article by Washington Post’s Neil Greenberg, titled “ Kirk Cousins ​​Has Goed From Bust To Market This Season ” presents a pretty nifty metric for examining the impact of Cousins ​​per dollar spent by Vikings.

Thanks In his article, Greenberg uses a metric of TruMedia which breaks down the expected points added per game since adding a new quarterback. After finishing as the 14th “best” passer in the NFL last season, Cousins ​​added just an expected 0.2 points (which Greenberg said is “the number of points scored above that. what we would expect given the pitch, distance and position of each match ”). How they figure out that I’m sure depends on some fancy algorithm that would give me a nosebleed, so I’ll just take their word for it.

Comparing that performance to Cousins’ salary in 2018, Cousins ​​only “earned” $ 1.1 million in cap dollars in 2018 (compared to his cap of $ 24 million). So, yeah, I get the frustration from last season even though I don’t really agree with the logic (as the offense was a complete mess last season from the line to the running back, until the offensive coordinators(plural)). But, again, let’s take this as a gospel for the sake of argument as it is at least consistent in Analyzing quarterback only, so that will give us an idea of ​​what Cousins’ performance means in 2019.

Speaking of which, Greenberg discusses the early-season woes of Cousins ​​and the Vikings, then embarks on Cousins’ escape after Week 4. According to Greenberg /TruMedia, the Vikings ‘offense scores eight more points per game than expected on Cousins’ throws (which includes Weeks 1-4). That means, by their parameters, that Cousins ​​is operating at a level that would demand a salary this season of $ 47 million. This amount is so large that it nearly makes up for 2018, bringing his total salary earned to $ 48.3 million out of the $ 53 million he earned.

You can see it below, thanks again TruMedia and Greenberg (as well as The Washington Post):

This means that if Cousins ​​has a 2022 similar to 2019, he would earn more than his salary of $ 45 million. With center-turn left guars-turned right guard Pat Elflein and Dakota Dozier at the helm on the left side hopefully the Vikings improve in terms of pass protection in 2020. It looks like with any improvement the sky could be the limit for the Cousins ​​and this Vikings attack .

Otherwise, Cousins ​​will have to really focus on the advice he received from Viking legend Fran. Tarkenton this offseason and continue to run as his life and the Vikings’ passing game depend on it.

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