Since a lot of Vikings fans are incapable of objectively evaluating Kirk Cousins after three full seasons of ups and downs and an offseason of vaccine hesitancy, let's let Pro Football Focus do it instead.
Week 1 QBs: Aaron Rodgers was the worst, Kirk Cousins was ... one of the best?
According to Pro Football Focus, the Vikings QB had the sixth-highest grade of 32 starters in Week 1. Aaron Rodgers had the worst grade. Teddy Bridgewater had the best.
September 16, 2021 at 4:09PM
Per PFF, Cousins was actually quite good in the Vikings' 27-24 Week 1 loss to the Bengals. And having had a chance to re-watch the game and consider the context of everything, I tend to agree.
Factoring in a variety of things, including expected points added, Pro Football Focus had Cousins graded as the No. 6 QB out of 32 Week 1 starters. He finished 36 of 49 for 352 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions while rallying the Vikings into overtime despite a slew of early penalties and other miscues.
Per PFF, Cousins had the seventh-best expected points added mark of any Week 1 QB. So long story short: Cousins wasn't perfect on Sunday, but was far from the problem. In fact, he was a strength.
Two other QBs of interest from Week 1:
The Packers' Aaron Rodgers, after an offseason spent alternating between hosting Jeopardy and being mad at his team, had the worst grade of all 32 QBs and by quite a large margin at that after his dismal performance in a 38-3 loss to the Saints.
One would expect Rodgers to shake off the rust in relatively short order. After all, he was the league MVP just last season. But for one week at least he was the league's worst instead of being the league's best.
And the distinction of being the league's best in PFF's Week 1 grades? That goes to former Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater, who was clean and efficient for the Broncos in a Week 1 win.
Making that contrast more intriguing: If Rodgers was going to get traded this past offseason, Denver was a very likely destination.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
