Getty Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins
After 14 years as Rick Spielman’s right-hand man, former Minnesota Vikings executive and George Paton, who is in his second year as Denver Broncos general manager, hedged his bet on what a winning quarterback looks like.
Paton sold the farm to acquire longtime Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in a trade, offering two-first round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-rounder and three players for Wilson.
After making a franchise-altering bet on Wilson, Paton spoke to Pro Football Talk about how winning hinges on the quarterback position. Paton described an elevated feeling in an organization when a winner at the quarterback position enters the building, reminiscing on his days in Minnesota where he helped the Vikings make a pair of NFC Championship game appearances.
However, that feeling fell on only one quarterback while Paton was in Minnesota — and it wasn’t Kirk Cousins.
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PFT: ‘Cousins is Not a Winner’
Speaking with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio on the #PFTPM podcast, Paton came to the defense of Wilson as the Broncos make a serious push to Super Bowl contention in the next two years.
“I just think you look at the teams that have won,” Paton said. “And what’s the common trait? Typically, it’s a quarterback. And then you look at Russ’s record. Over the first 10 years he’s won more games than any quarterback I believe in history. That’s a pretty good record of winning. . . . He’s a winner. The proof is in the pudding. Look at his record. He wins games. Now, they had a lot of good players around him, I get it. And we’re gonna need a lot of good players around him. And hopefully we have enough around him where we can take that next step.”
Florio spoke to the ability a quarterback has to elevate the talent around them, connecting that trait to winning. Paton revealed that he felt a buzz in the building when Brett Favre came to Minnesota in 2009.
“There’s something different,” Paton said. “I experienced that for one year, two years actually, when we got [Brett] Favre in Minnesota. I remember that first practice. Really, you knew it. It elevated everyone. And it didn’t just elevate the players. It elevated the people in the building, the work ethic, the accountability. We feel that here with Russ.”
The day Favre signed with the Vikings was one of the biggest moments of the past 20 years for the Vikings. Minnesota signing Cousins in 2018, which made news as one of the most lucrative deals in NFL history, is the next biggest blockbuster move the Vikings have made since.
However, Paton failing to mention those feelings when Minnesota signed Cousins is more evidence that the Vikings’ current quarterback doesn’t instill that win-it-all confidence in an organization and its players, Florio claimed.
“The fact that Paton didn’t experience that same feeling with the arrival of Kirk Cousins in 2018 is relevant to this conversation as well,” Florio wrote. “Cousins is not a winner, at least not consistently and not in big games. And Paton, who was with the Vikings when Cousins arrived, apparently didn’t experience the same feeling when Cousins had his first practice in Minnesota.”
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Cousins’ Flashes of Success in 2021
The Vikings’ run to the 2017 NFC title game proved the team was ready to contend for a Super Bowl with Cousins being the final piece to the roster.
His reputation was already well-established. Cousins had just one winning season in Washington and a 26-30-1 regular-season record. The Vikings hoped to return to the playoffs with a more consistent quarterback in Cousins than third-stringer Case Keenum, who captured lightning in a bottle during the 2017 season.
And while Cousins has consistently produced, wins have not followed his production, further cementing his image of a .500 quarterback.
But the 2021 season offered some optimism that Cousins is moving in the right direction. He led eight potential game-winning or game-tying scoring drives last season, four of which led to losses due to either a missed kick or the defense failing to make a stop.
He matched a career-high for game-winning drives last season (4) even with several of those breaks.
But whether Kevin O’Connell can unlock the winner in Cousins (like the Los Angeles Rams did with Matthew Stafford last season) will determine if Cousins can break his mold of a .500 quarterback and build a new legacy.
He enters his 11th season with a 59-59-2 record.