Former Vikings QB Kirk Cousins is not a legend nor bound to be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, once his playing days are over.
His statistics, accomplishments and reputation put him a notch or two below that — a candidate for the Hall of Good or Hall of Very Good, if those lesser museums actually existed next to the Hall of Fame.
But he is inarguably an all-time great in one facet of his career, so much so that when I saw an ESPN headline earlier this week touting eight NFL players who belong in the “Bag Hall of Fame,” I could practically guarantee Cousins would be on the list.
“Bag” has become modern parlance for money and the ability to secure it. The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling has written many times about the way Cousins and his agent, Mike McCartney, have maximized contract leverage, including last year when Cousins left for a four-year, $180 million ($100 million guaranteed) deal with the Falcons.
ESPN’s Bag Hall of Fame was not numbered or ranked in any discernible way, but it was fitting that Cousins was the first player listed.
Bill Barnwell, in writing about it for ESPN, more or less acknowledges that Cousins is a first-ballot Bag Hall of Famer: “If you explained this concept to an NFL fan and asked them who they thought was worthy of induction, they would probably name Cousins first.”
Cousins has earned almost $300 million in his NFL career. He parlayed a rise in Washington (and two years on franchise deals) into six highly compensated years with the Vikings and then that deal with Atlanta that now has him slated to make $37.5 million in 2025 as a ridiculously expensive backup behind Michael Penix Jr.
He’s earned that despite never being one of the five best QBs in the league. He’s made that much even though in eight of his 10 years as a starter, he has finished with a record within one game of .500. He has leveraged his skills to such a rich abundance even though he has just one career playoff victory (2019 with the Vikings).
