Cousins Trade Rumors

[YikesVikes]

I like Watson but I don't get why anyone would be willing to give up 3 First rounders for him. That's a mistake. Watson is good but he isn't that good.

Agreed. No player is worth that kind of capital. Watson looks good. But he, until this year, has been on a good team. Very solid roster. Good weapons, good D, good running game. Does he look this good because of the team around him? Would he look that good and been a top 5ish QB, if he had been drafted by the Jets? Does He make that team look better than they actually are? I don't know the answers to these questions. We do know that despite this elite status he is being given, on a very solid team, he has won 1 playoff game. And this year with a crap team, he certainly didn't elevate anything. No player is worth that kind of capital. I'd love to have him on the team, but not like that.

Change Watson to Cousins and your paragraph still works. Although, Watson is much better than Cousins. I think Cousin's play has been elevated by the weapons around him. AT, DIggs, JJ, and Cook is a QBs dream. Watson has never had an offense like that.

[YikesVikes]

I like Watson but I don't get why anyone would be willing to give up 3 First rounders for him. That's a mistake. Watson is good but he isn't that good.

1st rounders are great until you put a name to them.

Viking's last 3 1st rounders: Bradbury, Gladney and Hughes. Would you give those up for Watson?


Even if you throw Buffalo's 1st in there and it is Bradbury, Gladney and JJ it is still a no brainer.

Sounds like we need to stop drafting poor players in the first round. I remember having an argument with someone about that. Your point is correct however, I would trade those 3 in a heartbeat for Watson.

[VikingLord]

Why would you, on one hand, say Cousins isn't the problem, then on the other hand say the Vikings should do their homework and find a franchise quarterback in the draft? Sounds like you advocate replacing Cousins, even though he's not the problem.

It's possible that Cousins is not the long-term answer at QB while he's still not the main problem with the team as it is currently composed.

What I'm advocating is that the Vikings look to the future at the position via the draft and take a reasonable chance on a guy they think has development potential rather than trading away all their marbles on a big, costly, win-now move that history suggests likely won't pay the kind of dividends it is designed to pay.

Let's call it like it is. Deshaun Watson would be a significant, meteoric upgrade over not only Kirk Cousins, but ANYBODY in this draft, including Trevor Lawrence.

I'm just not convinced of that, but even if he is, the QB can't win games by himself. Without fixing the OL and defensive issues, no single player is going to provide the sort of substantive improvement we all want (i.e. a Superbowl win). Trade Cousins for Watson with no other changes and you still wind up short of the promised land.

Here's the formula.

Fire Spielman and Zimmer. Get a GM and a coach whose philosophies align with the modern NFL.

Next, trade for Watson. Give up the picks.

Finally, trade away veteran talent to recoup as much of the draft capital as possible. Anthony Barr for sure. I guarantee you somebody out there believes they can turn him into a 20-sack machine. Maybe you deal Adam Thielen, even though he's pretty much my favorite player. Give New England a call ... Belichick loves guys like Thielen. Maybe you even have to dangle Dalvin Cook or Eric Kendricks, if that's what it comes to. You can win without a stud 4-3 MLB, and you can win without a great running back. But with very few exceptions, you cannot win the SB without a great QB. Just don't trade Danielle Hunter because if you have a top-5 QB and a top-5 rush end, you're halfway home.

So trade picks to replace Cousins with Watson, and then trade away the core veteran talent on the team to replace the picks?

Why on earth would Watson want to go into a situation like that? He's already on a team whose ownership is doing exactly what you're suggesting here and that is the main reason he wants out, isn't it?

The only way this franchise turns around is if ownership sees that our current trajectory is so weak that Evel Knevel would die if he tried to jump a mud puddle using it. The Wilfs need to make changes. Big changes. Fire Spielman, fire Zimmer, hire people who understand the modern NFL, get Watson, keep Hunter, trade vets for picks. Contend by 2023.

You're welcome.

I respectfully disagree.

The franchise doesn't need to turn around. It needs to get pointed in the right direction.

Doing that means making the necessary moves and no more. Not making drastic changes that provide incremental improvements on net at best, but fixing the obvious problem areas.

Kirk Cousins is not an obvious problem area. Could the Vikings improve the overall play at QB if they replaced him with Watson? Probably. But not enough to justify the cost of doing so, and even if they did they won't see a dramatic improvement in their fortunes.

As frustrating as it may be, Spielman isn't going anywhere, Zimmer isn't going anywhere, and Cousins isn't going anywhere. They will all get another season because the Wilfs aren't going to blow it up just yet. So the best we can all hope for at this point is that the Vikings get their key defensive line players back at full strength (Hunter, Pierce), get their key LB players back at full strength (Barr, Kendricks), get their young dbs to develop quickly with a normal, full offseason, get their young OL players to develop, and then find the key players in this upcoming draft who can contribute quickly where they need quick contributions.

Everyone is going to get another season, and if an explosion is warranted, we'll see it next offseason.

[Fat Stupid Loser]

Very much could be said and has been said about Cousins in a few seasons of his. Few, if any, organizations out Redskins the
Redskins in dysfunction and ineptitude. He put up huge stats and pretty much single-handedly made the Skins competitive. All I'm saying is be careful what you mortgage everything for. It rarely works as expected. He is a good QB but 3 firsts and 2nds or thirds or whatever else gets thrown at one player is my definition of ridiculous.

Competitive? 9, 8 and 7 wins is competitive?

A 3 win talent team was in or in the hunt for playoffs and competitive in most games. They were a bad, poorly run, poorly coached team. He made them average by himself. He was the difference. Watson made a better team a little better than average and a bad team, a four winner. Don't get me wrong. All indications are that he is good. Generational game changer I haven't seen. Same argument you guys have been making about paying a good QB too much. You're going to pay him too much AND wreck your next 3 drafts.

[Fat Stupid Loser]

Why would you, on one hand, say Cousins isn't the problem, then on the other hand say the Vikings should do their homework and find a franchise quarterback in the draft? Sounds like you advocate replacing Cousins, even though he's not the problem.

It's possible that Cousins is not the long-term answer at QB while he's still not the main problem with the team as it is currently composed.

What I'm advocating is that the Vikings look to the future at the position via the draft and take a reasonable chance on a guy they think has development potential rather than trading away all their marbles on a big, costly, win-now move that history suggests likely won't pay the kind of dividends it is designed to pay.

Let's call it like it is. Deshaun Watson would be a significant, meteoric upgrade over not only Kirk Cousins, but ANYBODY in this draft, including Trevor Lawrence.

I'm just not convinced of that, but even if he is, the QB can't win games by himself. Without fixing the OL and defensive issues, no single player is going to provide the sort of substantive improvement we all want (i.e. a Superbowl win). Trade Cousins for Watson with no other changes and you still wind up short of the promised land.

Here's the formula.

Fire Spielman and Zimmer. Get a GM and a coach whose philosophies align with the modern NFL.

Next, trade for Watson. Give up the picks.

Finally, trade away veteran talent to recoup as much of the draft capital as possible. Anthony Barr for sure. I guarantee you somebody out there believes they can turn him into a 20-sack machine. Maybe you deal Adam Thielen, even though he's pretty much my favorite player. Give New England a call ... Belichick loves guys like Thielen. Maybe you even have to dangle Dalvin Cook or Eric Kendricks, if that's what it comes to. You can win without a stud 4-3 MLB, and you can win without a great running back. But with very few exceptions, you cannot win the SB without a great QB. Just don't trade Danielle Hunter because if you have a top-5 QB and a top-5 rush end, you're halfway home.

So trade picks to replace Cousins with Watson, and then trade away the core veteran talent on the team to replace the picks?

Why on earth would Watson want to go into a situation like that? He's already on a team whose ownership is doing exactly what you're suggesting here and that is the main reason he wants out, isn't it?

The only way this franchise turns around is if ownership sees that our current trajectory is so weak that Evel Knevel would die if he tried to jump a mud puddle using it. The Wilfs need to make changes. Big changes. Fire Spielman, fire Zimmer, hire people who understand the modern NFL, get Watson, keep Hunter, trade vets for picks. Contend by 2023.

You're welcome.

I respectfully disagree.

The franchise doesn't need to turn around. It needs to get pointed in the right direction.

Doing that means making the necessary moves and no more. Not making drastic changes that provide incremental improvements on net at best, but fixing the obvious problem areas.

Kirk Cousins is not an obvious problem area. Could the Vikings improve the overall play at QB if they replaced him with Watson? Probably. But not enough to justify the cost of doing so, and even if they did they won't see a dramatic improvement in their fortunes.

As frustrating as it may be, Spielman isn't going anywhere, Zimmer isn't going anywhere, and Cousins isn't going anywhere. They will all get another season because the Wilfs aren't going to blow it up just yet. So the best we can all hope for at this point is that the Vikings get their key defensive line players back at full strength (Hunter, Pierce), get their key LB players back at full strength (Barr, Kendricks), get their young dbs to develop quickly with a normal, full offseason, get their young OL players to develop, and then find the key players in this upcoming draft who can contribute quickly where they need quick contributions.

Everyone is going to get another season, and if an explosion is warranted, we'll see it next offseason.

You've crystallized my thoughts eloquently. Much better than I have.

[J. Kapp 11]

I respectfully disagree.

The franchise doesn't need to turn around. It needs to get pointed in the right direction.

And I'll respectfully disagree with your disagreement.

What on earth over the past seven years has convinced you that this ship is headed anywhere other than 180 degrees opposite of where it needs to go?

1. We have a GM who values quantity of draft picks over quality. Y'all are going bonkers at the thought of losing 2-3 first-round draft picks. But look at all the first-round swings and misses that Spielman has had over the past 10 years. Guys like Christian Ponder, Matt Kalil, Cordarrelle Patterson, Shariff Floyd, Teddy Bridgewater, Trae Waynes, Laquon Treadwell, Mike Hughes and Garrett Bradbury. But boy, we've sure had plenty of picks in Rounds 5-7. Genius. The point here isn't that GMs always hit on first-round picks. All of them swing and miss at some point. But Deshaun Watson isn't the same as a first-round pick. He's already established himself as a top QB in the NFL. Y'all are acting like we get nothing in return.

2. We have a coach who is stuck in 1994. A coach who hangs his hat on defense, yet whose defenses continually collapse in big moments and big games. A coach who thinks his scheme is so brilliant that can plug anybody in and still have a Top-5 unit.

3. We have a quarterback who, despite lots of nice volume statistics, is not a long-term answer. No than any of he other dozens of guys the Vikings have trotted out there since Fran Tarkenton retired.

4. We make the playoffs one year, only to get blown out, then miss the playoffs the next. Do you know the last time we made the playoffs two years in a row was when Brad Childress was coaching this team?

I think I can lay claim to being among the top two or three most optimistic guys on this board. But even I can see that this constant "slight course correction" is only good enough to get us back into the playoffs, where we ultimately meet our demise before reaching the big game. We get off course when we miss the playoffs. We "get back on course" by making the playoffs and getting blown out. I'm tired of it.

Doing that means making the necessary moves and no more. Not making drastic changes that provide incremental improvements on net at best, but fixing the obvious problem areas.

You're telling me that drastic changes mean only incremental improvements? How do you know that?

And for that matter, what have we had for the past 15 years? Drastic improvement? Heck, even "Incremental improvement" would be a very generous description of what Spielman and Zimmer have done because I'm not sure it's true. Before Zimmer arrived, we made the playoffs three times in 6 years. Since Zimmer, it's three times in 7 years. How is that improvement?

Kirk Cousins is not an obvious problem area. Could the Vikings improve the overall play at QB if they replaced him with Watson? Probably. But not enough to justify the cost of doing so, and even if they did they won't see a dramatic improvement in their fortunes.

Again, I don't want "not an obvious problem area" as my quarterback.

Kirk Cousins executes the plays that are called. But he's not a playmaker. Watson is.

As frustrating as it may be, Spielman isn't going anywhere, Zimmer isn't going anywhere, and Cousins isn't going anywhere. They will all get another season because the Wilfs aren't going to blow it up just yet. So the best we can all hope for at this point is that the Vikings get their key defensive line players back at full strength (Hunter, Pierce), get their key LB players back at full strength (Barr, Kendricks), get their young dbs to develop quickly with a normal, full offseason, get their young OL players to develop, and then find the key players in this upcoming draft who can contribute quickly where they need quick contributions.

Everyone is going to get another season, and if an explosion is warranted, we'll see it next offseason.

Perfect. A year too late. Next year's QB draft is projected to be one of the worst in recent memory, and Deshaun Watson will be a Jet or a 49er or some other such crap. Yeah, let's just keep kicking the can down the road.

And by the way, those veterans I'm advocating trading away? They won't be around when the three-year turnaround I'm proposing has run its course. You're thinking "right now," while I'm thinking long-term.

Best example is Adam Thielen. He's going to be 31 before the season starts, which means he's not going to be a top contributor on this team in 3 years. That's the kind of guy I'm talking about trading. Deal him now while he still has value. Sorry. I love what Adam has brought to this team, but the shelf life of an NFL player's sentimentality is typically much longer than his actual value. We've gotten five good years out of an undrafted free agent. That's a huge win, even if he never plays another down in the NFL. If I can get a second-round pick (the prevailing wisdom says that's his price today) for him on top of those five years, I'm doing that deal in a minute.

That's what I'm talking about when I say trade vets to recoup draft capital.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Interesting how you phrase this: “... so I can stomach 2 1sts and Hunter for Watson.”

Deshaun Watson is a top-5 QB in this league, IMO. Those types of guys NEVER come available under any circumstance, not even by trade. If I’m the Vikings, and if I’m serious about contending for a SB, then I do more than “stomach” a deal like this. I do whatever it takes. Put Deshaun Watson on the Vikings, at 25 years old, and this team becomes like the Packers with Aaron Rodgers for the next 12 years.

I would rather have Deshaun Watson than Trevor Lawrence, even though Lawrence is probably the best QB prospect to come out of college since Andrew Luck. The reason is simple. Watson is proven in the NFL. Lawrence is not. Lawrence could still bust.

By the way, to heck with Jimmy Garoppolo. He has no guaranteed money in 2021, therefore no incentive for the Vikings to assign any value to him in a trade. If Shanahan wants his boy Cousins, then he needs to pony up some draft picks. You don’t dump Cousins so you can replace him with Jimmy G. You dump Cousins so you can get better at QB.

The only available QB who makes us better is Deshaun Watson.

You are absolutely right about Watson and I was thinking like a homer with Hunter and not wanting to part ways with him. Watson makes us better than Hunter does and two firsts and Hunter are worth upgrading the most important position in sports. I stand corrected.

I do disagree with your take on why you dump Cousins. Dumping him saves us a ton of cap to help rebuild a team that isn't good enough to compete for a SB. 45 million over 2 years and Case Keenum or Marcus Mariota or some other retread FA QB + a rookie QB makes this team better than Cousins does. If the Vikings can get a 1st out of the 9ers for him great, but I would be willing to give up a 3rd just to dump his contract.

You and this contract. The Vikings are a projected $12 million over the cap. Yet you have teams like the Saints who are roughly $112 over the cap (yes you read that correctly). Or the Eagles who are over by 50+ million. I dont understand why you somehow think all this "Cousins cash" is holding us back from signing all these big name FAs. Like when does this team ever overspend in FA? Whether they have boat loads of cap or in the negative, they build through the draft as they should. I already proved to you that your little fantasy scenario that you typed up a few weeks ago has 0 chance of being realistic or even remotely doable. For as much as you complain about his contract, he's yet to cost us much of anything player wise on this team or in terms of incoming FAs.

[vikeinmontana]

I don't think some of you understand how good Watson is.

How this fanbase, of ALL fanbases would attempt to say he's not that good is mind boggling.

I don't know if it's in the realm of possibility to land this kid. But I'm with Kapp. I'd give up nearly everything asked of us to get a DeShaun Watson.

Can't figure out what world I'm living in where people would care about future unpredictable draft picks over a known gamer who is likely a top 3-4 QB in the entire league.

I need to bow out of this convo though or I'll get my hopes up and all excited for something that will never happen to a Vikings fan ever.

[S197]

Cousins isn't the problem but his contract is a problem. He's simply not worth $45M a year and he needs a lot of pieces around him to function at a high level.

That's why I would entertain the trade. This whole cap doesn't matter is nonsense. We were literally a day away from cutting Reiff. Our starting corners were Hughes, Gladney and Dantzler. Ifeadi was our starting DE. We had to settle for a 2nd rate DT and #3 WR in free agency. We have ZERO depth at safety other than a failed Iloka, on his second go around. We had to keep Dozier and put our future tackle at guard.

We were plugging holes all over the place because of cap constraints. It's not just about acquisitions, retention is a big part too and we had a major exodus on defense. And it isn't going to get better from here. Especially if the cap goes down.

[VikingLord]

What on earth over the past seven years has convinced you that this ship is headed anywhere other than 180 degrees opposite of where it needs to go?

They've been competitive over the last 7 years. Just not Superbowl competitive, although they came close in 2017. The years they've missed the playoffs, they've not missed by much. They are not a pending ship wreck.

1. We have a GM who values quantity of draft picks over quality. Y'all are going bonkers at the thought of losing 2-3 first-round draft picks. But look at all the first-round swings and misses that Spielman has had over the past 10 years. Guys like Christian Ponder, Matt Kalil, Cordarrelle Patterson, Shariff Floyd, Teddy Bridgewater, Trae Waynes, Laquon Treadwell, Mike Hughes and Garrett Bradbury. But boy, we've sure had plenty of picks in Rounds 5-7. Genius. The point here isn't that GMs always hit on first-round picks. All of them swing and miss at some point. But Deshaun Watson isn't the same as a first-round pick. He's already established himself as a top QB in the NFL. Y'all are acting like we get nothing in return.

How does Watson improve Spielman?

If Spielman is the problem, fix that problem. Getting a different QB doesn't address that problem.

2. We have a coach who is stuck in 1994. A coach who hangs his hat on defense, yet whose defenses continually collapse in big moments and big games. A coach who thinks his scheme is so brilliant that can plug anybody in and still have a Top-5 unit.

If the coach is the problem, fix that problem. Watson can't fix that problem any more than Cousins can.

3. We have a quarterback who, despite lots of nice volume statistics, is not a long-term answer. No than any of he other dozens of guys the Vikings have trotted out there since Fran Tarkenton retired.

Cousins and Watson are pretty close statistically as passers. Watson is a better runner and more inclined to run, but name me the last running QB who won a Superbowl. That's not a first-order contributor to success as a QB in the pros. It might cover up a shaky pass blocking offensive line or improve a team's apparent running stats, but given how few running QBs end up hoisting Lombardi Trophies, that attribute doesn't impress me much.

4. We make the playoffs one year, only to get blown out, then miss the playoffs the next. Do you know the last time we made the playoffs two years in a row was when Brad Childress was coaching this team?

Watson led his team to 4 wins last year, which implies two things:

1) Watson alone isn't enough to cover up a team's overall flaws no matter how good he may individually be
2) A team's overall flaws are far-and-away the biggest contributor to their overall success or lack thereof and not an individual player, even if he is a rock star QB

I think I can lay claim to being among the top two or three most optimistic guys on this board. But even I can see that this constant "slight course correction" is only good enough to get us back into the playoffs, where we ultimately meet our demise before reaching the big game. We get off course when we miss the playoffs. We "get back on course" by making the playoffs and getting blown out. I'm tired of it.

What you're describing is an apparent pattern. It's not a pattern based on anything objectively likely to repeat itself, but since it has repeated itself enough times, it seems logical to expect the pattern to continue in the future.

The winning formula is be a complete team with some depth, be fortunate with injuries during the season, and then get hot at the right time. That will put any team in the Superbowl conversation, and for many teams, that requires more course correction than course reversals.

If the Vikings want to become a complete team, then the areas to focus on are obvious, and QB isn't one of them right now. They have a QB who is good enough, but a team that is not. Fix the problems with other areas on the team, and then if there is a fatal issue at QB that will be more apparent.

And for that matter, what have we had for the past 15 years? Drastic improvement? Heck, even "Incremental improvement" would be a very generous description of what Spielman and Zimmer have done because I'm not sure it's true. Before Zimmer arrived, we made the playoffs three times in 6 years. Since Zimmer, it's three times in 7 years. How is that improvement?

If Zimmer is the problem, he's going to be a problem for Watson every bit as much as he is for Cousins.

If the coach is the issue, change the coach.

Kirk Cousins executes the plays that are called. But he's not a playmaker. Watson is.

I don't know if I agree with that. If you look at the stats for Watson and Cousins, they're pretty close other than the running stats. Cousins makes some plays too, and he might make more if Spielman puts a better OL in front of him.

Perfect. A year too late. Next year's QB draft is projected to be one of the worst in recent memory, and Deshaun Watson will be a Jet or a 49er or some other such crap. Yeah, let's just keep kicking the can down the road.

I mentioned a few mid-round QB prospects who the Vikings might have a reasonable shot at this year that might turn out to be pretty good pros, especially if they get some time to marinate behind a vet. Maybe instead of kicking the can down the road they just switch from Diet Coke to Coke and go ahead and take a QB in the first 3 rounds this year.

For me the bottom line is the Vikings have bigger issues than their QB, and going further, I just don't believe in the myth that the overall team is saved by a single guy. Even Brady needs a complete effort around him to succeed in Tampa, and Watson isn't enough to make the difference on a bad Houston team. Rodgers at home wasn't enough to best Tampa even though his defense got him the ball back multiple times.

Not Brady, nor Watson, nor Mahomes, nor Rodgers could overcome the Vikings inconsistent pass blocking and generally poor interior OL play. Unless that problem is fixed, having a "better" QB won't matter and the end result will be the same at best. None of those guys can generate a pass rush or limit the effectiveness of the opposing team's running game on 1st and 2nd down or get the opposing offense off the field. If that problem isn't fixed, who cares if your starting QB throws 5 more TDs or runs for 5 more TDs? The end result for the team is going to be largely the same.

Honestly, the Vikings just made a trade like the one many seem to hope will happen here. They just traded their 2nd round pick to the Jags for a pass rusher who didn't really materially change anything because the team's overall issues went far beyond what could be solved by that single player even if he met all expectations. Now they have neither their 2nd round pick nor that pass rusher. They got a 3rd back for him, and maybe fate will finally smile on them and they'll use that 3rd rounder to draft their franchise QB in this upcoming draft.

[VikingLord]

I don't think some of you understand how good Watson is.

Tell us how good he is. I'm open to learning something if there is objectively something to learn.

Watson's stats are marginally better than Cousins from what I've seen. He's a better runner for sure. The two aren't close there, but passing-wise, they look pretty close and Cousins is better in many categories.

In terms of the overall success of their teams, there too I'm not seeing anything that makes me think Watson is going to save the Vikings and lead them into a glorious future as he hasn't done that for the Texans.

And if you believe he hasn't done that for the Texans because the Texans have poor ownership/GM/coaching, I rest my point unless you think the Vikings have great ownership/GM/coaching and the only thing holding the Vikings back is their overpaid starting QB.

[PacificNorseWest]

I don't think some of you understand how good Watson is.

Been thinking the same thing after reading this thread.

[PacificNorseWest]

I don't think some of you understand how good Watson is.

Tell us how good he is. I'm open to learning something if there is objectively something to learn.

Watson's stats are marginally better than Cousins from what I've seen. He's a better runner for sure. The two aren't close there, but passing-wise, they look pretty close and Cousins is better in many categories.

Only looking at stats without context won't cut it, but if you haven't seen much of Watson playing then I guess that's you account for objectivity. Maybe I'll have more energy to get into it later, but he's a definite franchise changer. I don't know why he signed last season after they already got rid of Nuk.

[YikesVikes]

You are absolutely right about Watson and I was thinking like a homer with Hunter and not wanting to part ways with him. Watson makes us better than Hunter does and two firsts and Hunter are worth upgrading the most important position in sports. I stand corrected.

I do disagree with your take on why you dump Cousins. Dumping him saves us a ton of cap to help rebuild a team that isn't good enough to compete for a SB. 45 million over 2 years and Case Keenum or Marcus Mariota or some other retread FA QB + a rookie QB makes this team better than Cousins does. If the Vikings can get a 1st out of the 9ers for him great, but I would be willing to give up a 3rd just to dump his contract.

You and this contract. The Vikings are a projected $12 million over the cap. Yet you have teams like the Saints who are roughly $112 over the cap (yes you read that correctly). Or the Eagles who are over by 50+ million. I dont understand why you somehow think all this "Cousins cash" is holding us back from signing all these big name FAs. Like when does this team ever overspend in FA? Whether they have boat loads of cap or in the negative, they build through the draft as they should. I already proved to you that your little fantasy scenario that you typed up a few weeks ago has 0 chance of being realistic or even remotely doable. For as much as you complain about his contract, he's yet to cost us much of anything player wise on this team or in terms of incoming FAs.

How would you know if he did. What an absurd statement?

[YikesVikes]

I don't think some of you understand how good Watson is.

Tell us how good he is. I'm open to learning something if there is objectively something to learn.

Watson's stats are marginally better than Cousins from what I've seen. He's a better runner for sure. The two aren't close there, but passing-wise, they look pretty close and Cousins is better in many categories.

In terms of the overall success of their teams, there too I'm not seeing anything that makes me think Watson is going to save the Vikings and lead them into a glorious future as he hasn't done that for the Texans.

And if you believe he hasn't done that for the Texans because the Texans have poor ownership/GM/coaching, I rest my point unless you think the Vikings have great ownership/GM/coaching and the only thing holding the Vikings back is their overpaid starting QB.

Kirk is also given the luxury of throwing to AT, JJ and Cook. His WR castoff also just led the league in receiving yards and receptions (I think). I am not sure that Watson's stats would be similar if playing with our cornucopia of weapons.