Many talented players have been featured on the Minnesota Vikings roster over the years, and there is plenty of debate over who was the best to suit up for the purple and gold at each position on the football field.
Speculating which Vikings players are worthy of being placed ahead of others will always lead to fun discussions. However, there are some instances where fans will be left shaking their heads in confusion.
This kind of speculation becomes even more of a debate when a sports website assembles a potential starting lineup of former and current players, which is exactly what Pro Football Focus did recently.
Pro Football Focus recently assembled an All-PFF team for the Minnesota Vikings over the last 20 years that featured Kirk Cousins at quarterback.
On June 4, PFF writer Nathan Jahnke shared an article that compiled the All-PFF Team for the Minnesota Vikings over the last 20 years. And, as expected, there is plenty to debate based on the choices made for the team.
One interesting thing about Jahnke's article is that it starts by explaining why Kirk Cousins was chosen over Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre to be the Vikings' starting QB. Here is what the explanation is:
"While Brett Favre delivered the highest-graded individual quarterback season of the PFF era for Minnesota, Cousins secured the starting job on the strength of his consistent multi-year structural longevity."
This brings up an excellent debate of longevity versus intensity. Few will disagree that Favre's first year with the purple and gold was magical. That season saw the gunslinger have one of the best years in team history.
Favre had numerous career high statistics with Minnesota in 2009, including completion percentage (68.4), yards per pass attempt (7.9), and QBR (74.4). However, an argument can definitely be made that the impact that he left on the franchise was short-lived even though it was exciting.
The reasoning for Cousin's inclusion was made stronger when the methodology of deciding on which players to include was explained further.
"Selections were based on normalized PFF grades adjusted by season. To balance peak performance and longevity, only a player's five best seasons with a franchise from 2006-25 were considered."
It feels odd to keep a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback off the All-PFF team from the last 20 years. And there won't be many people standing up and saying that Kirk Cousins is having a better NFL career than Brett Favre. However, when looking at only their impact on the Minnesota Vikings, having Cousins as the starting quarterback makes sense.
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