NFL's Most Underrated QBs: Kirk Cousins

The best quarterback in the National Football League, Patrick Mahomes, has thoughts about which one of his peers in the league does not get enough respect. They are a bit surprising, as the two-time Super Bowl winner believes that a quarterback who has won just a single game in four trips to the playoffs is the most underrated signal-caller in the NFL.

In a video that was filmed at the premiere of the excellent Netflix sports reality series Quarterback (which was just renewed for a second season), Mahomes says that one of his co-stars in the eight-episode program, Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings, does not get enough love from football fans for what he brings to the gridiron. Asked to identify the most underrated quarterback in the NFL, Mahomes pointed to Cousins.

“I think this guy right here,” Mahomes said. “I mean, if you look at Kirk over here, man. Wins every year. Puts up great stats. Did it in Washington. Does it in Minnesota. Talk to any other quarterbacks in the league, and they’re gonna say the same thing.”

The third subject of the series, journeyman quarterback Marcus Mariota, who will be backing up Jalen Hurts for the Philadelphia Eagles this season, concurred with Mahomes’s assessment. “I’d agree with that,” he said. “I’ve been in a few systems and [with] a few coaches. And a lot of the tape that we’d watch was of Kirk. A guy consistently, year in and year out, continues to prove why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the league.”

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What’s interesting about what Mahomes and then Mariota had to say is that Cousins, who took over as the starter in Washington and played under the franchise tag before cashing in as a free agent with the Vikings, isn’t really all that underrated. In most rankings, he is regarded as a fringe top-10 quarterback and certainly gets the nod as being top-15.

In the rankings for the latest edition of Madden, Cousins is the ninth-ranked quarterback with an overall rating of 84. Ahead of him on the list are Mahomes (99), Joe Burrow (95), Josh Allen (94), Lamar Jackson (91), Jalen Hurts (88), Justin Herbert (87), Dak Prescott (87) and Aaron Rodgers (86). Cousins led the Vikings to 13 wins last season, but lost a home game to the underdog Giants in the first round of the playoffs, and is rated higher than quarterbacks such as Matthew Stafford, Daniel Jones, Russell Wilson, Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff and Deshaun Watson.

Cousins will get a chance to prove Mahomes right this coming season, particularly in Week 5, when the Vikings host the Chiefs in Minnesota.