Cousins Fails to Crack Top 12 in PFF Writer’s 2021 QB Rankings
Dustin Baker
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Tom Brady will undertake the 22nd year of his career in 2021 at the age of 44. And per Pro Football Focus, the elderly passer is the second-best quarterback in the NFL heading into his second act with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
PFF’s Bruce Gradkowski released his full Quarterback Power Rankings on Tuesday, detailing from top to bottom his standings of signal-callers leaguewide. A former quarterback himself, Gradkowski maintains Patrick Mahomes as the pace-setter for the league while Drew Lock ends the ranking fesitivities all the way down at #32.
In the middle, there is Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. The 32-year-old checked in at #14, sandwiched by Derek Carr of Las Vegas Raiders above and Justin Herbert from the Los Angeles Chargers below. Gradkowski wrote about Cousins and the 14th placement:
“Cousins operates very well when the conditions around him are good. The Vikings hit on replacing Stefon Diggs with Justin Jefferson in the draft, and they have a top-five rushing attack and a great offensive scheme that fits what Cousins excels at. Minnesota has to clean up its offensive line play, though. The unit ranked 29th in combined pass-blocking grade in 2020. One of these years, Cousins will fulfill the prophecy and be the most unlikely NFL MVP of all time, but last year wasn’t that year. The clock is ticking to make that happen. With the addition of Kellen Mond, the pressure rises, forcing Cousins to find a way to get the Vikings back to the playoffs.”
Indeed, Mond is the proverbial heir apparent, but Cousins would require a total faceplant or injury for Mond to see meaningful action in 2021. Minnesota is paying Cousins handsomely, creating a vested interest for the player to succeed. Should 2021 finish clumsily, well, Mond might be on top for 2022. For the upcoming season, Mond’s job title is to develop and light an inspirational fire under Cousins’ rump.
On the rankings, Gradkowski considers these notable passers better than Cousins heading in to 2021: Matthew Stafford, Baker Mayfield, Matt Ryan, and the aforementioned Carr. Those are the quasi-surprising ones. The “biggies” are also mentioned, such as Josh Allen and Russell Wilson.
Interestingly, Gradkowski pegs Cousins as a more promising quarterback for 2021 than Kyler Murray, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert
These rankings are a bit incongruent with PFF’s 2020 grades, but these musings are those of a single person in Gradkowski. PFF scored Cousins as the league’s 11th-best quarterback during the pandemic season, affording him 83.5 grade — the second-best season of his career. In 2019, Cousins totaled an 84.4 grade in the season that the Vikings astoundingly upended the New Orleans Saints during the wildcard round of the playoffs.
Cousins is the only quarterback in the NFL to throw 25 or more passing touchdowns in each season since 2015.