Dak Prescott's $160M Deal Impacts Kirk Cousins

Eagan MN

10 March, 2021

5:44 AM

Description

Press release from purplePTSD: March 8, 2021 Yet another marquee quarterback has inked an elephantine contract, and Minnesota Vikings signal-caller Kirk Cousins is indirectly affected. Cousins may play out the remainder of his contract which spans through 2022 – or the team may re-extend him beyond 2022. The 32-year-old Michigan State alumnus is like a kite in a thunderstorm for a handful of Vikings fans. Such folks are simply not sold on the legitimacy of his passing acumen and decry his every mistake, ad nauseam. For those detractors, Dak Prescott's new deal makes matters worse. On Monday evening, Prescott became the second-highest-paid passer in the NFL behind Patrick Mahomes. Full terms on the Dak Prescott contract: 4 years, $160M, up to $164M. He gets a no-trade clause and no tag provision. The guarantee is $126M. Massive. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 8, 2021 Yikes for Cousins truthers – hooray for the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott. Assuming Cousins has his customary 4,000+ passing yards and 30+ touchdown passes in 2021, his price tag just went up, or at the very least, will remain around the $30 million per season mark. And in all likelihood, Cousins will indeed command more money whenever his next deal comes to fruition. What's more, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger are in the process of reworking their respective deals to alleviate cap space for other team-needs this offseason. Some theorized Cousins might hop on the humanitarian train but – surprise, surprise – the Prescott news makes that improbability even more far-fetched. Cousins earned money on Monday night – thanks to Jerry Jones and Dak Prescott. Despite what national narratives and some anti-Kirk skeptics might assert, Prescott and Cousins are relative bedfellows statistically. Not Gulfs Apart for Performance There is a misnomer that Prescott and Cousins are leagues apart in terms of performance. Perhaps based on reputational stardom, Prescott is the breadwinner of the duo. But the men are closely linked per on-field output. Dak Prescott v. Kirk Cousins,last 40 Starts:Prescott–11,215 Passing Yards 62 Passing TDs27 INTs66.3% Comp96.4 Passer Rating 13 Rushing TDs7.82 Yds/AttCousins–10,004 Passing Yards 77 Passing TDs26 INTs68.8% Comp 104.1 Passer Rating 2 Rushing TDs7.90 Yds/Att — Dustin Baker (@DustBaker) March 9, 2021 Many onlookers will be a) stunned by this comparison b) flat-out ignore the similarities because they do not jell with a preconceived notion of Prescott's supposed superiority. Too bad. These numbers are ironclad and undebatable. The one thing separating the two quarterbacks is age. Prescott is five years Cousins' junior. He is embarking on, what should be, the peak of his prime. With history as an indicator, Cousins has already experienced that. So, yes – regarding age – Prescott is a more-prized asset. But not according to raw statistics. Cousins' agent can now pound the table, pointing to his numbers in comparison to Prescott's. During the last two-and-half years' worth of starts, Cousins has authored more touchdowns (passing + rushing) and a better passer rating via efficiency. Cousins' Deal Reasonable Now It is probably true that Prescott's next five seasons will outshine Cousins' age 27-32 seasons. The NFL is trending more pass-happy by the season, and let's face it – Prescott is exciting. If he rebounds from his season-ending 2020 injury swimmingly, the sky is the limit for the Mississippi State alumnus. Few folks are panning Prescott's deal as too rich. More than a few folks pan Cousins' deal as too rich. Now that Prescott's deal level-sets the barometer for other quarterbacks' compensation, Cousins $33 million per year doesn't look so dastardly. In fact, it seems rather fair if one recognizes statistics as a valid adjudicator of an athlete's performance. And if mathematical proof is not an impartial metric to evaluate an athlete, then it might be a best practice for naysayers to find a hobby like fictional storytelling. Facts and reason need not apply to that field. Landscape of Cousins' Next Deal Changes On the implication for Cousins' next deal relative to Prescott's – Cousins is whisked into a wonderful spot for himself and his family. Unless he cliff-dives on the football field during 2021, Cousins' next contract got chunkier on Monday. He can reasonably ask for $35 million per season as a conversation starter. If an NFL executive grimaces, all Cousins' agent must do is point to his performance in relation to Prescott's. What's more, Prescott has been graced with a mammoth offensive line throughout his five-year career. With the Vikings, Cousins is beset by the inverse. His pass-protection has been awful in each season with Minnesota. Vikings team pass block grade and rank since 2014:2014: 72.4 (23rd)2015: 67.9 (28th)2016: 64.7 (30th)2017: 71.9 (17th)2018: 63.6 (27th)2019: 63.0 (27th)2020: 55.5 (29th)#Skol pic.twitter.com/gKykFADIAJ — PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) January 14, 2021 That's difficult to overcome. But to a degree, Cousins does so — year in and year out. It is unclear if Cousins' next contract with be tendered by the Vikings or an unknown NFL team. Minnesota's wins and losses will be the single-most-important determining factor in solving this quandary. Should the Vikings win 11+ games next season and win a playoff game – the Cousins era will continue. If the team flops and mirrors its end-of-year standing from 2020, Cousins, head coach Mike Zimmer, and maybe even general manager Rick Spielman will stand on incredibly tremulous ground. This press release was produced by purplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author's own.