In the words of the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, “The Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved.” Well, so too are the business dealings of the NFL and its various inhabitants.
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The American tradition is back in the limelight after Sovereignty laid claim to the first leg of the triple crown at this year’s event. Naturally, that’s put the ideas of purebreds and greenbacks at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Unfortunately, for the Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback, Kirk Cousins, the conversation has led to some less-than-stellar comparisons. During the latest episode of the Pro Football Talk on NFL on NBC, longstanding commentator, Michael Holley, likened the veteran signal caller to the 2022 Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike, for all of the wrong reasons.
Suffice to say, Holley is still befuddled by Cousins’ ability to squeeze dollars out of unwitting investors.
“Kirk Cousins is a hero, he is a leader for workers everywhere for maximizing value and getting big contracts. Kirk Cousins, in guaranteed money, has made more in his career than Tom Brady did… and just under Aaron Rodgers. Kirk Cousins. What a country.”
Given the resumes between Brady and Cousins, in addition to the fact that Brady played in nine more seasons than Cousins, their career guaranteed earnings give off the impression of a typo, more so than anything else, when listed side by side.
Kirk Cousins has now guaranteed himself $331.6M earned on the field across 14 NFL seasons.
Tom Brady earned $332M in 23 seasons.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 15, 2025
Thankfully, for both NFL franchises and Holley’s blood pressure, Cousins is still a decent way off from the aforementioned Rodgers, who currently ranks first overall in terms of career earnings, let alone guarantees. However, the show’s host and founder, Mike Florio, wasn’t willing to take the Kentucky Derby-themed segment as seriously.
Since their premise was to word associate NFL quarterbacks with the names of famous racehorses, the veteran reporter noted that he was choosing to “have a bit fun with this” before going down a word association rabbit hole.
“My first thought was Lucky Strike when I saw Rich Strike. Lucky Strike is a cigarette brand. So, hey, let’s give a shoutout to Len Dawson for the iconic photograph of him, sitting in the locker room… at the halftime of the AFL vs NFL championship game, smoking a cigarette, hopefully a Lucky Strike, with a bottle of Fresco on the ground. So, Rich Strike, Lucky Strike, Len Dawson.”
While it may not have been the most coherent talking point in the history of sports broadcasting, Florio’s comments certainly reminded viewers of a different time. The legendary photograph of Dawson remains relevant to this very day.
Often plastered onto white t-shirts that are to be worn at frat parties and college gatherings, the photo routinely makes the rounds on social media, as it is generally regarded as being one of the most epic photos in all of NFL history. In a day and age where social media comments and locker room beefs often lead to real-world problems for NFL teams and their players, perhaps it’s worth remembering an instance in which all a player needed to do in order to overcome adversity was simply sit back and spark up.
