Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer reportedly wasn’t convinced Kirk Cousins was the right quarterback for the team. As the walls were closing in on the Zimmer and Rick Spielman era, the former coach complained about Cousins in meetings, per The Athletic’s Chad Graff.
“Towards the end of his tenure, Mike Zimmer bemoaned Kirk Cousins to several within the Vikings,” Graff posted on social media. “Now, if the Vikings keep Cousins, it’s a bet [head coach] Kevin O’Connell can connect with the QB in ways Cousins’ previous coaches couldn’t.”
From strictly a statistical standpoint, Cousins had an incredible season in 2021—4,221 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
So it’s a bit hard to see why he has become such a polarizing figure for the Vikings. According to Zimmer, per the report, Cousins didn’t make enough “winning plays” for a Vikings team that’s had a losing record in consecutive seasons and missed the playoffs two years in a row.
O’Connell, who served as Cousins’ quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders, has been adamant about reconnecting in Minnesota. The Vikings’ newly-hired head coach believes the team can win big games with Cousins as the starter.
But do the contractual numbers make sense?
Cousins is projected to count $45 million against the salary cap in 2022, making him the third-highest cap hit at his position. It’s easier to look past the winning plays criticism when the player’s contract isn’t taking up 21.2 percent of a team’s entire salary cap.
Zimmer’s friend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders also called out Cousins back in January. He even went as far as pointing at the quarterback as one of the reasons for Zimmer being fired.
“When you look back on this, guys, just look at the commonality of the guys that have gotten fired,” said Sanders, when appearing on Barstool Sports’ The Pro Football Show. “Look at all of the guys that got fired and then look to the quarterback play. And there’s a common thread to each and every durn one of them.”
