But in regards to the season that is about to start, Vikings fans might need to prepare themselves for a near-future in which Kirk Cousins is a top-10 quarterback on a playoff team, Hunter is a defensive star for a powerhouse franchise and the Vikings discover quickly how much they miss their former stars.
Cousins played for the Vikings for six seasons, arriving after the team went to the NFC Championship Game. He went to the playoffs with Minnesota twice and won one playoff game — a game in which Saints quarterback Drew Brees looked like he couldn’t throw past the line of scrimmage.
Cousins was overpaid. You can cite team performance in making the case that he was overrated. The most symbolic moment of his Vikings’ tenure, and perhaps his career, was his willingness to check down to tight end T.J. Hockenson on fourth down of a home playoff game against the mediocre New York Giants. Hockenson didn’t make it to the first-down marker, and a 13-win team was done.
But Cousins on his worst day was better than Sam Darnold, especially in the most important aspects of running Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense:
