Remember when a lot of NFL insiders said the Minnesota Vikings overpaid for quarterback Kirk Cousins, when Cousins left Washington?
Well, they won’t have to worry about it anymore.
The quarterback agreed to a free agent deal with the Atlanta Falcons, according to many reports, including this one from Yahoo! Sports (Kirk Cousins agrees to deal with Falcons, ending era with Vikings), and then turned to everyone and asked us how we liked it (Kirk Cousins: You like that!! ).
Say what you will about Cousins not being able to win at night, or not being able to win in the playoffs – and many of those criticisms are fair.
But since he arrived in Minnesota, Cousins threw 23,265 yards and 171 touchdowns.
If you’re a Vikings fan, and you think you’ve had it rough, perhaps you don’t know the recent history – or just the history – of the Atlanta Falcons, especially the last six seasons.
Of course, the Falcons once had a very productive Matt Ryan, who was for many years a very good quarterback but due to probably hanging around a bit too long and a myriad of franchise factors, the Falcons went 7-8 under Ryan in 2019 and 0-1 under Matt Schaub that season; 4-12 under Ryan in 2020, and 7-10 in 2021 before Ryan departed for Indianapolis.
Things went farther downhill in 2022 for Atlanta, as the Marcus Mariota-Desmond Ridder combo platter was ordered up, and that went about as well as it sounded, a 7-10 record. Last season, they put in a different order, with the Ridder-Taylor Heinicke combo, and that fell flat, as well, to the tune of 7-10 once more – three straight years of 7-10 got coach Arthur Smith fired.
Can bringing in Cousins turn the franchise’s fortunes? We shall see.
