NFL News & Analysis

Vikings' inability to protect QB Kirk Cousins could derail NFC North hopes

2MA0EKX Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) takes a hard hit during an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, November 06, 2022 in Landover. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)

• One of the best quarterbacks in the league: Since joining the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, Cousins ranks fourth in the NFL in both passing yards and touchdowns, and he ranks top-10 at his position in PFF grade, one spot behind Josh Allen and one spot above Andrew Luck.

• Under constant pressure: The Vikings' biggest problem recently has been the offensive line and protecting Cousins. Since 2021, the Vikings quarterback has been either hit or sacked on 16.9% of his dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate among the 35 signal-callers who have dropped back at least 500 times in that span.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes


Kirk Cousins is a polarizing figure in NFL circles.

Since joining the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, Cousins ranks fourth in the NFL in both passing yards and touchdowns, and he ranks top-10 at his position in PFF grade, one spot behind Josh Allen and one spot above Andrew Luck.

But despite everything he's done in Minnesota — including the 46-35-1 record and the two trips to the playoffs — Cousins has been fixed in the crosshairs and surrounded by the narrative that he can't get his team over the line when the lights are brightest.

With how important the quarterback position is in today’s NFL, some of that is reasonable. However, over the past two seasons, Cousins has shown that maybe the blame shouldn’t fall entirely on him.

Highest-graded quarterbacks since 2018 (among 66 QBs with 500 or more dropbacks)
Rank Name Team Snaps PFF Grade
1 Patrick Mahomes Chiefs 6,277 95.6
2 Tom Brady Buccaneers 6,396 94.2
3 Aaron Rodgers Jets 5,467 94.2
4 Drew Brees Saints 2,656 92.8
5 Joe Burrow Bengals 3,382 92.8
6 Russell Wilson Broncos 5,339 91.8
7 Josh Allen Bills 5,641 91.5
8 Kirk Cousins Vikings 5,602 91.3
9 Andrew Luck Colts 1,244 91.2
10 Deshaun Watson Browns 3,763 90.3

Cousins has a great supporting cast of skill players. The group is led by Justin Jefferson, who recently joined NFL legend Randy Moss as only the second wide receiver ever to produce 5,000-plus career receiving yards before turning 25.

They also seem to have hit on another good young receiver in Jordan Addison, who has 133 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games in the NFL.

In the middle of the 2022 season, the Vikings also traded for tight end T.J. Hockenson, who has earned a receiving grade of at least 73.0 in each of the past three seasons.

With the skill positions set, the Vikings' biggest problem recently has been the offensive line and protecting Cousins. Since 2021, the Vikings quarterback has been either hit or sacked on 16.9% of his dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate among the 35 signal-callers who have dropped back at least 500 times in that span.

However, he's taken 238 total hits over that time, 24 more than the next-closest player at the position.

Quarterback Total dropbacks Passing grade pressured dropbacks sacks hits Pressure %  Total hits Hit %
Kirk Cousins 1405 85.7 488 78 160 34.7% 238 16.9%
Matt Ryan 1126 71.7 416 78 136 36.9% 214 19.0%
Russell Wilson 1108 68.7 404 98 115 36.5% 213 19.2%
Justin Herbert 1590 85.4 494 75 133 31.1% 208 13.1%
Ryan Tannehill 1041 80.8 367 88 109 35.3% 197 18.9%
Joe Burrow 1344 91.8 396 95 101 29.5% 196 14.6%
Patrick Mahomes 1547 85.4 504 55 125 32.6% 180 11.6%
Daniel Jones 1064 73.1 423 75 103 39.8% 178 16.7%
Josh Allen 1472 84.5 500 66 110 34.0% 176 12.0%
Justin Fields 882 55.2 393 101 71 44.6% 172 19.5%
Derek Carr 1308 73.4 460 75 95 35.2% 170 13.0%
Jared Goff 1240 70.1 387 61 107 31.2% 168 13.5%
Carson Wentz 889 65.3 316 58 106 35.5% 164 18.4%
Trevor Lawrence 1389 68.6 429 65 93 30.9% 158 11.4%
Davis Mills 964 61.7 347 62 94 36.0% 156 16.2%
Mac Jones 1167 76.3 336 68 78 28.8% 146 12.5%
Aaron Rodgers 1168 85.0 309 63 82 26.5% 145 12.4%
Taylor Heinicke 867 54.4 320 57 86 36.9% 143 16.5%
Matthew Stafford 1077 79.5 307 60 83 28.5% 143 13.3%
Dak Prescott 1146 81.3 349 51 90 30.5% 141 12.3%
Geno Smith 838 77.7 295 62 69 35.2% 131 15.6%
Tom Brady 1512 90.1 298 44 82 19.7% 126 8.3%
Jalen Hurts 1121 80.9 378 68 56 33.7% 124 11.1%
Baker Mayfield 950 60.5 292 80 43 30.7% 123 12.9%
Lamar Jackson 917 72.0 323 69 48 35.2% 117 12.8%
Zach Wilson 781 46.9 313 73 43 40.1% 116 14.9%
Jimmy Garoppolo 858 75.0 238 47 68 27.7% 115 13.4%
Jacoby Brissett 675 77.2 254 43 62 37.6% 105 15.6%
Teddy Bridgewater 562 72.4 221 38 60 39.3% 98 17.4%
Tua Tagovailoa 939 81.4 271 42 53 28.9% 95 10.1%
Sam Darnold 625 57.1 238 44 44 38.1% 88 14.1%
Kyler Murray 988 79.9 292 56 27 29.6% 83 8.4%
Andy Dalton 682 76.2 195 43 37 28.6% 80 11.7%
Kenny Pickett 528 67.4 178 34 44 33.7% 78 14.8%
Ben Roethlisberger 646 54.8 147 38 36 22.8% 74 11.5%

Despite all of that, Cousins has missed only one game, and his 87.5 passing grade is tied for the third-highest among that same group of quarterbacks.

Pressures and sacks are not solely on the offensive line, though: They are also a responsibility the quarterback shares. In today’s game, a high number of quarterbacks can create plays out of structure, and with that comes the tendency to  invite more hits, piling pressure on the offensive line.

But that's never been Cousins' game. And in Minnesota's case, the blame should fall almost exclusively on the offensive line.

Cousins was responsible for just 5.0% of his pressures in 2022 and 4.1% of his pressures in 2021, both of which ranked second-lowest at the position over those seasons. The simple fact is that he is not often creating his own pressure by running into sacks or holding the ball too long.

This isn’t to take all of the blame away from him. He still has a problem with turning the ball over. It’s an area that has always stopped him from being considered one of the top-tier quarterbacks. His 23 turnover-worthy plays last season were tied for the fourth-most at the position. He's already already fumbled three times this season, which must be cleaned up, especially behind his porous offensive line.

He can’t continue to make a bad play worse.

Last Thursday night's game was another example in a long line of games where Cousins played really well in a loss. His 83.1 overall grade was the third-best mark at the position in Week 2, and he continued to keep his team in the game despite being pressured on 37.0% of his dropbacks.

One of his best throws in this game came near the end when Justin Jefferson hadn't even come out of his break before the ball was delivered.

It’s the sort of play he has to make, given how his offensive line has been playing. He’s being forced to rely on timing and anticipation to beat defenses, and he did that in last Thursday’s loss to the Eagles.

While Cousins will be the first to tell you he needs to improve in certain areas, it’s time to give him some credit and less blame. He’s consistently performed as an upper-echelon quarterback over the past couple of seasons despite getting pummeled every week.

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