Despite the lack of playoff success he's had in his career as a member of the Washington Commanders and Minnesota Vikings, new Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has still managed to earn more money during his tenure in the NFL than almost any other player in the history of the league.
Since entering the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick in 2012, Cousins had already earned more than $231 million in his career heading into this offseason. After landing a new four-year contract worth $180 million from the Falcons, he now has the potential to make more than $400 million during his tenure in the league.
The massive amount of money Cousins has earned during his NFL career, in spite of his lack of postseason success, is something that has never really been seen in the league before, and it's possibly something we might never see again.
Former Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins "not going to apologize" for his giant pay days
Recently, Cousins joined NBA analyst Ernie Johnson and former NBA star Charles Barkley on an episode of the "The Steam Room" podcast.
When asked by Barkley if it bothers him that the first thing people think about when it comes to his NFL career is how much money he's made, the former Vikings quarterback had the following answer.
"I'm not going to apologize for the fact that it's been a great blessing financially for my family. But, in my years in Atlanta, I certainly want it to be about won a Super Bowl and won a lot, and that becomes the last piece of my football career."
Cousins also added that money "really wasn't the driving force" for why he left Washington after the 2017 season and why he decided to part with Minnesota this offseason.
That seems like an odd statement to make since he essentially didn't re-sign with the Vikings because they weren't willing to offer him as much money as the Falcons did.
While Cousins would like to portray the image to the public that his main focus during his time in the NFL has been about winning games, his actions off of the field don't seem to align with this.
When he first entered the league in 2012, sure, the veteran signal-caller likely had the hopes of winning multiple Super Bowls and ending his career as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. But over the years, Cousins' focus has truly seemed to shift to making as much money as possible during his time in the league.
And let's make it very clear that this is perfectly fine. Cousins has been given an extremely unique opportunity to earn an amount of money that will help multiple generations of his family and he's taken full advantage of it.
But the way he's seemingly gone out of his way to make it appear that a significant goal of his NFL career hasn't been to make a gigantic amount of money has made him sound disingenuous.
In fact, saying that he's "not going to apologize" for how much he's cashed in during his football career is easily the most truthful Cousins has sounded in recent memory.