The veteran NFL Quarterback led the Atlanta Falcons to a stunning 22-21 win over the highly favored Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night.
Do You Know Kirk?
Before the 2 minute drill, here’s some background. A lot of NFL fans know very little about Kirk Cousins. He’s been one of the best kept secrets in the league for 13 years. Kirk was QB1 at Michigan State for three seasons and led the Spartans to an 11-3 record his junior year (2010) and another 11-3 season his senior year (2011). His teams posted an undefeated record against arch-rival Michigan and Kirk is only the second three-time captain in MSU football history. He finished his college career with 9,131 yards passing and a 64.1 completion percentage with 66 TD passes vs 30 interceptions.
Like any successful QB at a big-time college program he entered the 2012 NFL draft with high expectations, but the strangest thing happened to Kirk in that NFL draft. He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round with the 102nd pick. This should have been cause for celebration, but the rub was Washington had already selected the Heisman Trophy winner, Robert Griffin lll, with the 2nd pick in the first round of the 2012 draft. Kirk Cousins was drafted as the backup! He would not have a realistic shot at QB1 in the first few years unless RB3 tanked or was injured.
Can You Imagine?
Most people might say, “I can’t imagine how Kirk Cousins felt being drafted as a backup, right? Well, I CAN imagine! Because I was drafted in the third round of the NFL draft and actually started the last two games of my rookie year. Entering the off-season I felt I was solid as QB1 right up to the point when the Falcons made California Quarterback Steve Bartkowski the #1 pick in the first round. Yikes. The feeling? It Sucks!
Cousins Persevered
But, Kirk Cousins did get his break and he made the most of it. After some spot starts and relief roles over his first three seasons, Cousins would be named the starter for the Redskins in 2015. He did not disappoint. On October 25, 2015 Cousins led the Redskins to their largest comeback win in franchise history after being down 24-0 to the Buccaneers. He would finish with 317 yards passing, three TD passes and one rushing. He also tied a franchise record (Jason Campbell) with 33 completions.
After the game, Cousins was caught on camera shouting “You like that?!” which became a catchphrase for the team throughout the season. More wins included a November 15 victory over the Saints when Kirk threw for a career high 4 TDs and posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3, making him the first Redskins QB to ever accomplish that feat. He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week and he would later be named Offensive Player of the Month.
In 2015, his first season as QB1 with the Redskins, Cousins posted the highest completion percentage (74.7) in home games in NFL history. He also became the first Redskins QB since Sonny Jurgensen in 1970 to have at least four passing TDs in three or more games in a season. He would take the Skins to the Wild Card round of the playoffs where they lost to Green Bay 35-18. For the season, Cousins would start all 16 games to go 9-7 with 4,166 yards, 29 TD passes vs 11 interceptions, and a completion rate of 69.8% which led the NFL!
Show Me the Money!
The year 2016 is where the Cousins story starts to get VERY interesting from a financial perspective. Following the 2015 season his rookie contract, which paid him $824,000 in the fourth year (2015) expired and he was set to become a free-agent. The Redskins quickly tagged Cousins as their non-exclusive franchise player. This meant two things; First, Cousins would be paid $20 million for one year and other teams could only sign him by matching the $20 mil AND giving up two first round draft picks to the Redskins. There were no takers and Cousins stayed in the nation’s capitol.
In 2016 Kirk pretty much duplicated his 2015 season as he once again started all 16 games, the team went 8-7-1, and Kirk passed for a career high 4,917 yards. His 45.7% deep-ball completion percentage ranked #5 in the NFL in 2016. He was also named to his first Pro-Bowl.
Contract Management at its Best
Following 2016 Kirk was again set to become a free-agent. The Redskins attempted to work out a long-term deal. but Cousins was evolving into a shrewd negotiator who was not afraid to bet on himself. The Redskins could only come to terms on an exclusive franchise-tagged deal in Feb 2017. This made Cousins the first QB in NFL history to be franchise-tagged in consecutive years and he would be guaranteed $24 million for the 2017 season.
Fans, this is brilliant contract management. How many times have you seen players in the NFL sign long-term deals that are back-loaded with big money? And how many times have you seen these players get cut in the “out years” of the contract because the money wasn’t guaranteed in those later years? Long-term contracts without significant back-end guarantees invite the club to dump players who may be peaking or just over their peak production.
Kirk Cousins’ approach was to only commit to the guaranteed years. In this case one year deals in 2016 and 2017. Because it was for only one year the payout for that one year was significantly more than the annual payouts on a multi-year deal. The risk? Injury. But don’t we like a Quarterback that plays the game like a River-Boat Gambler? You bet.
You Gotta Know When to Fold ‘em
The Redskins went 7-9 in 2017 and missed the playoffs. Kirk Cousins was not the problem. He finished 2017 with 4,093 yards, 27 TD passes and 13 pics. It was his third consecutive season of passing for at least 4,000 yards. It was also finally time for Cousins to test the free agent market.
On March 15, 2018 Cousins signed a fully guaranteed three-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings worth $84 million. This was the first fully guaranteed, and at the time the highest, three-year contract in NFL history. Again, not a four or five year deal, a three year deal but fully guaranteed. I love this guy!
You Can’t Argue with Kirk’s ROI
Over the three year life of his Vikings contract, Kirk Cousins’ on the field production would be commensurate with his compensation levels. The team made the playoffs two of the three years. In 2019 Kirk took the Vikings to a wild card win and into the Divisional round where they lost at San Francisco 27-10. For his work in 2019 the Vikings would award Cousins with a two-year $66 million contract extension. Yup, fully guaranteed !
Again, Kirk delivered in both years (2020-21) passing for over 4,000 yards with 35 TD passes in 2020 and 33 TDs against only 7 interceptions in 2021, when he was named to his 3rd Pro Bowl.
13-4 Speaks for Itself
As a result of his production and leadership skills, Cousins and the Vikings signed a one-year $35 million fully guaranteed contract extension for 2022. Again Cousins did not disappoint. In Week 5 vs the Bears Kirk completed 19 consecutive passes, breaking Tommy Kramer’s franchise record. In Week 15 Cousins went 34 of 54 for a career high 460 yards and 4 TDs in a 39-36 OT win over the Colts. With that win, the Vikings clinched the NFC North for the first time since 2017 and Kirk was once again named Offensive Player of week.
In that 2022 season Cousins started all 17 games and led the Vikings to a 13-4 record and an NFC North title. Minnesota would lose to Daniel Jones and the NY Giants in the Wild-Card round 31-24, but Kirk posted a solid game with 31 of 39 completions for 273 yards, 2TDs and no pics. For the season he finished with 4,547 yards and 29 TDs vs 14 pics. Even more impressive was his 8 game-winning drives, which led the NFL for the 2022 season and tied the NFL record for a single season with Matthew Stafford’s 8 drives in 2016.
Lightening Finally Strikes
However, there were changes taking place with the Vikings roster. Key veterans were released prior to the 2023 season. The Vikings restructured Cousins’ deal to free up cap space, but in the process did not extend it. This left open the possibility that Cousins could hit the free agent market following 2023. In the 8th week of the season, Kirk’s luck would run out. In Minnesota’s 24-10 win over Green Bay, Kirk suffered a torn Achilles that ended his season. In the ten prior years Kirk had never missed a practice, much less a game.
So Kirk Cousins hit the free agent market while rehabbing a torn Achilles. Seemingly not a great negotiating position, right? But Kirk Cousins had built up 12 years of equity in the NFL with exemplar play and selfless leadership skills both on the field and in the locker room. The market responded quickly to his availability and on March 13, 2024 Cousins signed a four-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Not just any contract, but a $180 million deal with $100 million guaranteed. All this at age 36.
Remember the 2 Minute Explanation Promise? Here it is…
Why? Why would the Atlanta Falcons invest that kind of money in a 36-year-old veteran coming off a torn Achilles?
It’s simple. Quarterbacks like Kirk are transformational. The Atlanta Falcons had not experienced a QB execute a game winning drive since… 2016! In his career, Captain Kirk has executed 30 (including Monday Night’s) game-winning drives in his career. Cousins ranks 23rd on the all-time list of QB game-winning drives in NFL history. More importantly, he ranks 5th among active QBs. Only Matthew Stafford (44), Russell Wilson (39), Derek Carr (34, and talk about below the radar!), and Aaron Rodgers (32) have more.
That’s a Lot of Dough!
This is why Kirk Cousins, with his new Falcons $100 million guarantee, ranks second on the all-time list of NFL career earners entering the 2024 season. The top 4 are Aaron Rodgers ($342.5 million), Cousins ($331.7 million), Matthew Stafford ($328.3 million) and Russell Wilson ($256.4 million). Easy to correlate the highest paid are also at the top of the most game winning drives list. Clutch. Clutch in the final 2 minutes. Clutch pays the bills and puts fans in the seats.
Let’s close with the final 2 minute explanation. On Monday night, Kirk and the Falcons took over the ball on their own 30 yard line with 1:39 left and no timeouts. It would take Kirk Cousins 1:05 to throw the winning 7 yd touchdown pass to Drake London just over the goal line and just inside the sideline marker.
Trust your Investment
In going the 70 yards, Cousins completed four out of four passes and with no timeouts. Do you know how many times he took a snap and spiked the ball to stop the clock? Zero. You know why? Because his head coach Raheem Morris and his Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson TRUST their Quarterback.
I am increasingly confounded by how much control NFL coaches exercise over veteran Quarterbacks in a game, and specifically in tight situations. The coach wants to control everything. He wants to call everything. They want that ball spiked, not just to stop the clock, but also to get the team in the huddle so they can call the next play. In sum, they are paranoid. It’s all about control with most of these guys.
Why not save a play and call two plays in their huddle? Get on the ball and snap that second play. Keep it moving. We did that in college. Why not let your veteran QB call a play at the line of scrimmage? Why not keep the defense on their heels and control the momentum? Paranoid control freaks.
So why did Zac Robinson turn his QB loose? Zac Robinson is a 37 year old first-time offensive coordinator. He is also a former Quarterback at Oklahoma State and briefly in the NFL. OK, that tells me something. He knows how Quarterbacks think. He knows the QB has a feel and flow of a game you can’t get up in the press box. Zac also was the Pass Game Coordinator and Quarterbacks coach with the Rams, who happen to have a Quarterback, Matthew Stafford, on the same game-winning list of active players as Kirk Cousins. So Zac KNOWS to let a guy like that do his thing, right?
Well Done Zac. This Looks Like the Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship!
P.S. If you still want more on Kirk Cousins, check out the Netflix special “Quarterback.” Cousins is one of three QBs featured and it’s one of the best inside looks at a Quarterback’s life during the season you’ll ever see.