Kirk Cousins doesn't even get 'honorable mention' in ESPN QB ranking
Paid like a top-10 quarterback, Kirk Cousins isn't a top-10 quarterback. That's according to anonymous NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players who voted as part of an ESPN project to rank the 10 best players at every position.
The 10 best quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford, Justin Herbert, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson and Dak Prescott.
The honorable mentions are Lamar Jackson, Derek Carr and Kyler Murray.
Where's Kirk? His name is mentioned in the story...in the very last line, which reads: "Also receiving votes: Kirk Cousins (Minnesota Vikings)"
But "also receiving votes" is a bit generous considering there's a line in the story that says "only 13 passers received more than one vote." Last we checked, the top 10 plus 3 honorable mentions is 13, meaning we can come to a fairly confident conclusion that just one of the 50+ voters thinks Cousins is a top-10 QB.
How did ESPN come up with their rankings?
"Here's how our process worked: Voters gave us their best 10 players at a position, then we compiled the results and ranked candidates based on number of top-10 votes, composite average, hundreds of interviews, research and film-study help from ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen. In total, more than 50 voters submitted a ballot on at least one position, and in many cases all positions. We had several ties, so we broke them with the help of additional voting and follow-up calls with our rankers. Each section is packed with quotes and nuggets from the voters on every guy -- even the honorable mentions."
Of course, ESPN's newest top-10 list is another example that makes it seem like the gap between each quarterback is the same, when in reality, as Purple Insider's Matthew Coller says, cluster rankings are a far better way to look at quarterbacks.
And as Coller mentioned in that column, quarterbacks shouldn't be ranked on their raw talent, rather they should be rated based on the team concept and the points their offense scores. By that metric, Cousins has a shot at being a top-10 quarterback in 2022.
Related: Using clusters to rank quarterbacks: Where does Kirk Cousins rank?
Related: How long will it take Kirk Cousins to learn another new system?
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.