Kirk Cousins needs to be used in rollouts and play-action
When Cousins first came to the Vikings, he dropped back a lot more, and the offense didn’t look as good.
Cousins had 606 pass attempts in 2018, tied for a career high for him. This season Cousins had 444.
Despite having considerably less attempts, his touchdown passes only went down by four — 26 last season, compared to 30 the season before. He also had a 107.4 quarterback rating in 2019, compared to a 99.7 in 2018.
Cousins dropped back less and the offense was rewarded for it. Not only that, but Pro Football Focus ranked Cousins first in play-action passes and designed rollouts. The offense had Cousins drop back in the conventional sense a lot less, and found a system that worked for him.
Signs point to offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak doing something similar on offense to what the team did in 2019, so let’s hope he does that.