Now on his third team and making bank, Kirk Cousins has been one of the most consistent regular-season shot-callers in the last decade. Drafted in 2012 by the Redskins as their 4th-round pick as a backup for their star QB Robert Griffin 3, he ended up becoming a starter in just three seasons.
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However, being a starter wasn’t on the cards for him and the Redskins only planned to use him just as a trade asset. Recovering from an Achilles injury during his 13th off-season, Cousins appeared on the 1st episode of Season 10 of ColdAsBalls with Kevin Hart, where he gave away a small nugget about his time in Washington.
The 4-time Pro Bowler revealed that Kyle Shanahan, the offensive Coordinator of the Redskins at the time, relayed to him the message that they plan to keep him on the roster as a backup to their star QB Robert Griffin, picked as the 2nd overall pick in the same draft class and if he continues to play well in the preseason or whenever the opportunity presented itself, they would trade him to the best suitors for draft capital. He said,
” I got drafted. Kyle Shanahan was our Offensive Coordinator. He called me after I got picked and he said all right- So the plan is that you back up Robert, you will play really well in the preseason games and in 2-3 years, we will trade you. That’s the best-case scenario. We drafted you to become a trade asset that we can get more picks for later.”
As luck would have it RG3 got injured and after a bad spell himself, Cousins finally delivered and went on to become a starter and play for three more seasons, before being traded to the Vikings in 2018. Now in year 13, he will soon be starting for the Falcons after a dozen years in Minnesota.
Kirk Cousins’ Thirteenth Season in the League
Cousins, who was never meant to be a starter in the league when drafted by the Redskins and himself has believed that his ceiling would be as a career backup, will now be starting the next phase of his career in Georgia. However, before his move to the Falcons, Kirk spent six seasons in Washington playing for the Redskins and after three successful seasons as a starter, in which he passed for over 4000 yards consecutively, he signed with the Vikings.
He spent the past six seasons of his career in Minnesota where he has another four 4000-yard seasons. Despite becoming a fan favorite for QB play and his down-to-earth humble lifestyle, he never achieved success during the postseason, winning only once in 12 seasons. But he certainly gave fans a good time.
As per Spotrac, Kirk Cousins has now signed a 4 year, $180 million contract with the Falcons. The deal includes a $50,000,000 signing bonus and $100 million in guaranteed money. They would pay him an annual salary of $45 million. If he plays out all four years of this contract, his career earnings will be over $411 million, which will be more than Tom Brady.
All of this would never have happened if Robert Griffin hadn’t gotten injured and Cousins wouldn’t have grabbed the opportunity by both hands. While a delicate ACL certainly played its part, his story tells us the draft position doesn’t matter if one knows how to work hard and grab the opportunity when it presents itself. Naysayers can say what they want about his lack of playoff success, he has earned a comfortable living for his family, by playing in the league in which the average career span is less than four years.
