The quarterback market
When the news first came out that Cousins received an extension from the Vikings, one of the biggest complaints was the money,
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport said the deal was two new years, worth $66 million. So three years in total for $96 million.
That’s a lot of money, sure, but when you zoom out and look at what a quarterback of Cousins’ caliber earns, it wasn’t exactly an overpay.
The four quarterbacks ahead of Cousins — in terms of average pay per year — are the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson, Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, the Rams’ Jared Goff and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.
Personally, I think Wilson and Rodgers are both better, but I’m not sure I’d rather have Goff over Cousins on any given game, and I think Roethlisberger, while he could definitely still have something left in the tank, is risky to hypothetically value over Cousins due to him being 38 years old. So only two quarterbacks ahead of Cousins for salary are actually better.
Ryan Tannehill earned an extension this offseason, too. He has a yearly average of $29.5 million. Cousins per year rate is $33 million. Wouldn’t you rather have Cousins for under four million more per year than Tannehill?
Tannehill and Cousins are examples of players who can take your team pretty deep into the playoffs, but they aren’t going to necessarily win games when everyone else isn’t playing well. Some quarterbacks can will a team in that way, but Minnesota can’t wait around for one of those players to walk through the door. A team has to lock down a quarterback like Cousins, with a fair market value, and build the rest of the roster around him.