Kirk Cousins throwing deep passes at an elite level in 2018
By Adam Patrick
On throws of over 20 yards this season, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback is performing better than every other passer in the NFL.
For some fans of the Minnesota Vikings, it was hard to justify their team going out and spending $84 million this offseason on a quarterback with zero playoff wins to his name.
But a mediocre winning percentage was not enough to deter the Vikings from signing Kirk Cousins to be their 2018 starting signal-caller. Minnesota clearly felt that adding Cousins to their roster could eventually help the lead the franchise to its first ever Super Bowl win.
Well, through the first six weeks of the 2018 season, the Vikings seem to have spent their money wisely by investing it in the talented quarterback.
Minnesota Vikings
In six games this year, Cousins has completed 71.2 percent of his passes for 1,921 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions. Numbers Minnesota’s fans have not seen out of their starting quarterback in a very long time.
Unlike the majority of the Vikings’ starting signal-callers of the recent past, Cousins has been finding a lot of success with passes deep down the field.
On 23 throws of 20 yards or more this season, the Minnesota quarterback has passed for a total of 390 yards, eight touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Cousins has completed 56.5 percent of his deep passes this year and his 140.9 QB rating on these throws is tops in the NFL.
He hasn’t thrown deep too many times in 2018 (just 8.8 percent of his pass attempts have been 20 yards or more), but when he has decided to chuck it downfield this season, it has produced great results.
Despite not having as many deep passing attempts as some of the other quarterbacks around the league this year, Cousins’ eight touchdowns of 20 yards or more are tied for the most in the NFL this season with Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson.
In case anyone was wondering, no Vikings quarterback has thrown for more than seven touchdowns of 20 yards or more in an entire season since 2006. Former Minnesota signal-caller Christian Ponder only had seven of these specific touchdown passes during his entire career.
It seems pretty safe to say that Cousins has been worth the money for the Vikings so far this season.
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