While the Minnesota Vikings are involved in probably false business negotiations around Kirk Cousins, wide receiver Justin Jefferson remains a fervent defender of his quarterback. In a two-week period, when Deion Sanders, Sage Rosenfels and Ian Rapaport questioned the legitimacy of Cousins’ game, the 32-year-old quarterback received an endorsement from his main wide receiver.
Cousins and Jefferson clicked wonderfully in 2020. The LSU alumnus registered 1,400 receiving yards during his rookie campaign – an NFL record for a first-year pass receiver. After a few weeks of resolving the Vikings’ attack, Jefferson also scored seven touchdowns throughout the season. In all, Cousins hit 35 for touchdowns in 2020 – the sixth highest in the NFL.
Vikings hope to recover after a 7-9 season, which was plagued by an unusually porous defense. Clean health bills for essential defense personnel like Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr will help. Minnesota must also set its free agency agenda and capitalize on the NFL’s 2021 Draft as the team did in 2020 with Jefferson’s choice.
In the Cousins-Jefferson relationship, this bond appears to be peach. This should be evident for a WR-QB set that just set an NFL rookie record, but pessimists love to subtract all kinds of praise from Cousins. It is relentless.
But for field stuff, Cousins and Jefferson are close.
Jefferson Hypes Cousins
Jefferson jumped on the Jim Rome podcast this week for a chat. In the midst of the conversation, Jefferson made it clear that Cousins was the right man to lead the Vikings:
“He definitely takes a lot of heat, he takes a lot more heat than he really deserves. If you look at the numbers, he is at the top of the league. He has done a lot for this team and this attack. I really don’t understand why he gets so much criticism. All these losses that we had were not due to him. Of course, we would like to make some moves back and redo some, but that’s the way it is. You don’t play perfectly, especially in this league, and to see the things he did, I really don’t know why he gets so much criticism. He’s the reason why I had 1,400 yards. “
So, who do you trust to judge Cousins’ abilities as a passerby? Your eighth-grade friend who says Cousins stinks because he watched a game against the Indianapolis Colts last year – or the person in the helmet who broke an NFL record with the guy? It’s complicated.
Last week, Deion Sanders did the opposite
Announcing that a quarterback who threw 4,265 yards and 35 touchdowns during one season – is really good – is a bizarre responsibility. If Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield carried out these feats, the conversations in the Hall of Fame would soon please the radio waves.
The pattern is different for Primos. When he leads a game-winning campaign, the narrative inexplicably turns to: “What time of day was the game?” He was the author of these 35 touchdowns in 2020 – and the confabulation of switching to Garoppolo still arises.
This is due to comments like Deion Sanders’ last week. When interviewing Justin Jefferson on the NFL Network, Sanders revealed that he was “not a fan” of Kirk Cousins’ game, although he loves Mike Zimmer.
Cousins has not received widespread endorsement from former NFL players or analysts. Tony Romo of the past has been examined in a similar way, but not quite like Cousins.
The False Diggs Narrative
Also floating in the realm of inaccurate discussion points is the idea that Stefon Diggs forced his departure from Minnesota “because of Kirk Cousins”. This narrative is false.
Stefon Diggs – with his own lips – crushed the fallacy:
“Kirk was one of the first guys to send me a message. He really enjoyed the time we spent together in recent years and was just as encouraging, wishing me luck in Buffalo. And it’s like, what do I say about Kirk? This is a man who invited me to his home. He introduced me to his family. Spend overtime with us. He’s a guy for whom, through all the ups and downs of the past few years, I’ve developed tremendous gratitude and respect for him. I will definitely miss playing and learning from him. “
And that is why Jefferson defending Cousins is noteworthy. Falsehoods belonging to Primos are abundant and inevitable. When the emerging face of the Vikings franchise [Jefferson] weighs, people listen. Two prolific consecutive broadouts – Jefferson and Diggs – extolling cousins on separate forums.
Maybe this guy is really good?
