Quarterback Kirk Cousins found his stride with the Vikings in 2020.
After struggling from time to time in 2019, the Minnesota offense fully switched to a system that benefited Cousins. That system emphasized rollouts and play-action passes.
Because of that, Cousins threw the deep ball at a high clip, and our friends at Touchdown Wire recently ranked Cousins among the better deep-ball quarterbacks in the league.
Though that is a good sign if you’re a Vikings fan, the analysis on Touchdown Wire isn’t exactly a glowing review of the Minnesota quarterback.
“Cousins presents a fascinating disconnect between surface metrics and actual throwing efficiency on deep balls. Per Sports Info Solutions, he led the NFL last season with 17 touchdown passes on deep-ball routes, and threw just one interception. But he was on target on just 59.3% of those throws, which puts him 10th among eligible quarterbacks. And per Next Gen Stats, he threw into tight coverage on just 12.9% of his overall attempts, the fifth-lowest total in the league. Again, beware the deep-ball quarterbacks whose receivers do most of the work.”
Not only does Touchdown Wire refer to the wide receivers helping Cousins in 2019, but one of those receivers, Stefon Diggs, is gone. Diggs, the Vikings leading receiver, was traded to the Bills for draft picks this offseason.
