Chris Simms ranks Kirk Cousins as the 15th-best quarterback in the NFL
By Adam Patrick
The former NFL quarterback and current NBC Sports analyst recently revealed where he believes the Minnesota Vikings passer ranks among his peers.
In terms of statistics, there were not many who were better than Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins in 2018.
In 16 games, Cousins completed 70.1 percent of his passes for 4,298 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He was one of only four passers last season to throw for at least 30 scores and 10 or fewer interceptions.
Despite Cousins’ numbers being impressive last year, it didn’t exactly translate into success for the Vikings. Minnesota, unfortunately, ended up missing the playoffs during his first season under center as the team’s starting quarterback.
Whether people like it or not, the Vikings not making the postseason last year plays a factor in how Cousins’ performance is evaluated.
For NBC Sports’ Chris Simms, Minnesota missing the playoffs in 2018 seems like it certainly played a factor in where he ended up placing Cousins on his recent ranking of the top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL.
Simms has the Vikings signal-caller slotted at No. 15 on his list, right behind Matthew Stafford and just ahead of Nick Foles. Topping the rankings is none other than current Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Some other notable parts of Simms’ list were him putting Deshaun Watson at No. 5, Tom Brady at No. 9, Drew Brees at No. 10, Dak Prescott at No. 13. If the former NFL quarterback was looking for his rankings to get attention, he’s certainly been getting just that with where he placed Brady and Brees.
As for where Simms ranked Cousins, it actually seems pretty fair. Even though the Minnesota quarterback put up some impressive stats last year, he failed to show up in some of his team’s most important matchups.
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The Vikings are hoping that this will change for Cousins in 2019. Minnesota has given their quarterback a lot of tools to succeed next season and now he must figure out how to best utilize these tools in order to get his team back into the playoffs.