Kirk Cousins Cracks Top 10 in PFF's Quarterback Power Rankings

Kirk Cousins, top-ten quarterback?

In recent years, most rankings tend to have the Vikings' veteran signal caller somewhere in the 12-15 range. But Pro Football Focus and its grading system have always been pretty high on Cousins, so maybe it's not surprising to see him crack the top ten in their recent QB power ranks. In fact, PFF analyst Sam Monson slotted Cousins in at ninth on his list.

Cousins is probably at the top of the second tier of quarterbacks — those who you can win with but are unlikely to transform a team into a contender simply by their presence. Cousins has earned a PFF passing grade of at least 77.7 every season in Minnesota. He is an exceptionally accurate passer with plenty of big plays in his arsenal who maybe lacks that transcendent, intangible talent that every team chases at the position.

I think that's a very fair assessment of who Cousins is as a quarterback. He's behind Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Hurts, and Lawrence in Monson's rankings, and it's hard to argue with any of those. They all have that special playmaking quality that Cousins hasn't consistently shown during his career.

Behind Cousins are Prescott, Tagovailoa, Stafford, Watson, Carr, Geno Smith, Goff, and Daniel Jones. That all feels like one big tier, and Cousins certainly has a case to be on top of it with his history of accuracy and production, even though there are a lot of people who would argue that he should be more like 13th or 14th.

PFF grades are just one metric, but here's how Cousins has ranked during his Vikings career among quarterbacks with at least 300 dropbacks in that season:

2018: 79.3 grade (14th of 31)
2019: 84.4 (5th of 30)
2020: 83.4 (9th of 32)
2021: 88.2 (5th of 31)
2022: 73.4 (T-13th of 31)

After taking a step back in his grades and efficiency metrics during his first season in Kevin O'Connell's offense, it'll be interesting to see if Cousins bounces back during his second year in the system.

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