There are a lot of myths surrounding Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. One that continues to perpetuate is that Cousins is the king of the checkdown.
In this new series for The Vikings Wire, we will be focusing on proving or disproving that myth.
What will we be quantifying as a checkdown? It won’t just be a short route or a screen. It will be a receiver that leaks out short that is an emergency option outside of the standard progressions.
All quarterbacks take these and Cousins is no different. Why are we looking at going through with this series? Cousins has a tendency to want everything to be perfect which can result in throwing into the flat instead of trusting his weapons down the field or waiting a split-second longer for someone to come open downfield. What this series will do is quantify each checkdown based on situation, pressure and confidence.
The scale that we will be using is from 1-10 with one being the most cowardly and 10 being the perfect decision. Some of this will be a little bit subjective but most of these will be closer to white or black than being a shade of gray.
Throughout the season, we will be breaking each one down and talking about why Cousins made the decision and what he could have or should have done differently.
Week 1: 4/33 (12.12%) Score: 26/40 (6.5)
Week 2: 12/46 (26.09%) Score: 73/120
Checkdowns: 16/79 (20.25%)
Overall Grade: 99/160