BREAKING NEWS: Zimmer Didn't Like Cousins
INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Zimmer spent part of his last few weeks as Vikings head coach bemoaning the team’s situation at quarterback.
The veteran defensive guru had made more of an effort to get the best out of Kirk Cousins in 2021, conducting weekly meetings with the quarterback for the first time in their four years together. But toward the end, it became clear to those within the building that the head coach-quarterback relationship hadn’t blossomed the way many had hoped it would before the season, according to sources.
Zimmer complained openly in coaching meetings about Cousins, and some of Zimmer’s top lieutenants echoed the sentiment. Zimmer didn’t feel the quarterback made enough “winning plays,” that he didn’t take the necessary shots to help lead the Vikings to victory, and that he didn’t elevate his teammates.
But that view wasn’t shared by everyone. Some, especially in the front office, thought Zimmer didn’t handle the situation well. They acknowledged to Zimmer that Cousins isn’t a perfect quarterback but felt Zimmer’s job as head coach was to get the most out of the quarterback — and undercutting his play in coaching meetings didn’t help.
The Vikings hope that drama is in the past. Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman were fired, replaced by Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. But the failed relationship between Zimmer and Cousins underscores a troubling point that the Vikings will have to grapple with under a new regime. Cousins has had two head coaches in his seven years as a starter, and both coaches left convinced they couldn’t win with him at the helm.
Now the attention turns to O’Connell. The Vikings have intimated that they hired the former Rams offensive coordinator with the hope that his scheme can get the best out of Cousins, even if rumors about a potential Cousins trade will surely swirl here this week at the NFL Scouting Combine.
If Cousins indeed remains with the Vikings as they’ve suggested he will, there’s no more important relationship within the franchise than O’Connell and Cousins. O’Connell has talked about an approach that would maximize Cousins’ talents, allowing him to play free and “quiet-minded.”
Perhaps he can find success with Cousins where Zimmer and former Washington coach Jay Gruden couldn’t. Zimmer left their relationship thinking that Cousins wasn’t good enough to win big. Gruden left frustrated that Cousins wouldn’t fit the ball into tight windows. Neither thought they were on the cusp of a Super Bowl with Cousins at quarterback.
Of course, it’s fair to note that not every assistant coach Cousins has worked with feels that way. Kyle Shanahan, Cousins’ former offensive coordinator, remains high on the quarterback and tried to land him in San Francisco after Shanahan became the head coach there. He liked Cousins’ accuracy and ability to process plays. He felt he needed a quarterback who comprehended both what the offense and defense were doing and could make the necessary throws after making the right reads. He thought Cousins could do all of that.
Maybe that’s why it’s enticing to picture Cousins with O’Connell, a Sean McVay disciple who shares similar philosophies with Shanahan. O’Connell helped squeeze success out of Jared Goff and produced a Super Bowl title with Matthew Stafford. His playbook is designed to make life easy for the quarterback. He said in his very first interview with the Vikings that his goal would be to bring the best out of Cousins, and it seems easier to trust that he’d be capable of that than Gruden or Zimmer.
“I know who (Cousins) is as a player, and I know what he’s capable of, and part of our job as coaches is maximizing a player’s ability to go out every single Sunday and have success,” O’Connell said. “I feel that’s going to be an advantage for us as we build our system offensively, make sure we really focus on the things Kirk does well, which I do think are a lot of aspects of playing the position, and help him on a daily basis connect with his team, lead us, be a completely quiet-minded quarterback that can go play because he’s talented enough to go do that.”
On the other hand, it’s hard to ignore how things ended with Cousins’ last two coaches.
There’s also the open question about Cousins’ contract. He has one year remaining on a deal that includes a $45 million cap hit this season, something that makes it hardly ideal to bring him back at that price. An extension, which could lower that number, is possible, but Cousins has offered no indication that he’d be willing to sign at a discount. Perhaps no NFL player has done a better job at leveraging his situation for a bigger contract than Cousins has throughout his career. In an offseason where some quarterbacks could sign extensions for more than $40 million per year, a Cousins extension likely wouldn’t come cheap.
The only other alternative is a trade. But with an ownership group advocating for another playoff season amid its goal of continued success, it’s hard to imagine the Vikings dealing him and improving since a Cousins trade would probably yield draft picks as compensation.
So those are the options the Vikings are left to consider as their new brass descends on Indianapolis for its first combine atop the organization.
If they choose to keep Cousins, it’ll be a bet on O’Connell and his ability to break the trend and connect with Cousins in a way that brings the best out of the quarterback. In many ways, he seems capable of that. He’s only three years older than Cousins, he’s a former NFL quarterback and he has spent his coaching career learning a system that’s supposed to make things easier for quarterbacks, one Cousins has previously had success in.
But after the last head coach left disenchanted with the quarterback, there’s no more important relationship for the Vikings than the one between Cousins and O’Connell.
I pay $1 per month to have access to The Athletic. Might be an overcharge.
@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
Going into 2021, the Vikings had the 9th most spent on D. Cousins contract wasn't the issue.https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31035096/nfl-salary-cap-space-all-32-teams-set-spend-needs-save
@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
I'm not just referring to the last play. I'm noting the entire drive our guys were at least 5 yards back from their receivers and we didnt blitz once. Dantzler shouldnt have been behind the guy but why were all guys at the end zone line? Pretty dumb call.I mentioned a couple weeks ago that all corners drafted by Zimmer in the first 3/4 rounds never signed their second contract with the Vikings. I highly doubt the sole reason for that is because Kirk made $30MM. We had a lot of other bad contracts during that time that were signed (Barr & Tagging Harris are two examples).
He didn't want Kirk, we know that. That's not his job though, that was Rick's. The HC isn't supposed to hold a grudge because you didn't want to pay high dollar for the best QB option that offseason. Vikes weren't going to win with Case, Teddy, or a rookie. Again, he needs to look in the mirror.
I agree to your last line, that was his failure and is pretty obvious right now.But not being able to resign the corners he drafted because they all signed big contracts elsewhere isn't a point of failing. He made Rhodes a star, albeit a shaky, unstable one.
My point was, when Zimmer had good dbs, his defense was always near the top. It plummeted in the last 2 years when he didn't have good dbs.
@"VikingOracle" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
With all due respect, Zim would not have won with Rhodes, Waynes and Mac (and he spent a lot of draft capital on DBs). Under Zim, Rhodes raised his game to new heights but then came crashing down the last two seasons under Zimmer. Those last two years included 10 million dollar salaries. Wayne was good but made 20 million in 2020 (5 mill base and 15 mill signing bonus) and over 10 million last year and, because of injuries, hardly touched the field during those 2 seasons. And we all saw Mac this past season. I am not a big fan of Cousins but if you are talking about spending 30 million on Cousins or 30 million on Waynes and Rhodes (as Rhodes played his last 2 seasons) in 2020, well, the choice is fairly clear.
I like cousins and am not saying he wasn't worth the money.Rhodes crashed because he is rather flakey. BRob's lockerroom bits showed us what everyone knew about Planet Xe. Has the physical skills, but maybe got caught up in his own stardom. Waynes was a solid DB that many here didn't like, but he got paid by another team. Zim always had a top D when he had the backend players.
@"JustinTime18™" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
Going into 2021, the Vikings had the 9th most spent on D. Cousins contract wasn't the issue.https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31035096/nfl-salary-cap-space-all-32-teams-set-spend-needs-save
So despite all the noise of overpaying, we were average on defensive spending.
@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
I'm not just referring to the last play. I'm noting the entire drive our guys were at least 5 yards back from their receivers and we didnt blitz once. Dantzler shouldnt have been behind the guy but why were all guys at the end zone line? Pretty dumb call.I mentioned a couple weeks ago that all corners drafted by Zimmer in the first 3/4 rounds never signed their second contract with the Vikings. I highly doubt the sole reason for that is because Kirk made $30MM. We had a lot of other bad contracts during that time that were signed (Barr & Tagging Harris are two examples).
He didn't want Kirk, we know that. That's not his job though, that was Rick's. The HC isn't supposed to hold a grudge because you didn't want to pay high dollar for the best QB option that offseason. Vikes weren't going to win with Case, Teddy, or a rookie. Again, he needs to look in the mirror.
I agree to your last line, that was his failure and is pretty obvious right now.But not being able to resign the corners he drafted because they all signed big contracts elsewhere isn't a point of failing. He made Rhodes a star, albeit a shaky, unstable one.
My point was, when Zimmer had good dbs, his defense was always near the top. It plummeted in the last 2 years when he didn't have good dbs.
Average to solid DBs but we could stop the run. The 2017 defense was awesome because they were near the top in rushing defense. Since that time the rush defense has been on a steady decline and we all know how it went this year. Rhodes had a few really good seasons, but I never thought Waynes was that great, neither was Mack. Perhaps Zim was a bad CB evaluator?
@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
I'm not just referring to the last play. I'm noting the entire drive our guys were at least 5 yards back from their receivers and we didnt blitz once. Dantzler shouldnt have been behind the guy but why were all guys at the end zone line? Pretty dumb call.I mentioned a couple weeks ago that all corners drafted by Zimmer in the first 3/4 rounds never signed their second contract with the Vikings. I highly doubt the sole reason for that is because Kirk made $30MM. We had a lot of other bad contracts during that time that were signed (Barr & Tagging Harris are two examples).
He didn't want Kirk, we know that. That's not his job though, that was Rick's. The HC isn't supposed to hold a grudge because you didn't want to pay high dollar for the best QB option that offseason. Vikes weren't going to win with Case, Teddy, or a rookie. Again, he needs to look in the mirror.
I agree to your last line, that was his failure and is pretty obvious right now.But not being able to resign the corners he drafted because they all signed big contracts elsewhere isn't a point of failing. He made Rhodes a star, albeit a shaky, unstable one.
My point was, when Zimmer had good dbs, his defense was always near the top. It plummeted in the last 2 years when he didn't have good dbs.
Average to solid DBs but we could stop the run. The 2017 defense was awesome because they were near the top in rushing defense. Since that time the rush defense has been on a steady decline and we all know how it went this year. Rhodes had a few really good seasons, but I never thought Waynes was that great, neither was Mack. Perhaps Zim was a bad CB evaluator?
Well IMO he was a defensive guru, but needed good DBs as does any good defensive coordinator. The run defense declined with Joseph getting hurt and his decline, but these past two seasons have been largely because our DBs were raw and not good.
@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
I'm not just referring to the last play. I'm noting the entire drive our guys were at least 5 yards back from their receivers and we didnt blitz once. Dantzler shouldnt have been behind the guy but why were all guys at the end zone line? Pretty dumb call.I mentioned a couple weeks ago that all corners drafted by Zimmer in the first 3/4 rounds never signed their second contract with the Vikings. I highly doubt the sole reason for that is because Kirk made $30MM. We had a lot of other bad contracts during that time that were signed (Barr & Tagging Harris are two examples).
He didn't want Kirk, we know that. That's not his job though, that was Rick's. The HC isn't supposed to hold a grudge because you didn't want to pay high dollar for the best QB option that offseason. Vikes weren't going to win with Case, Teddy, or a rookie. Again, he needs to look in the mirror.
I agree to your last line, that was his failure and is pretty obvious right now.But not being able to resign the corners he drafted because they all signed big contracts elsewhere isn't a point of failing. He made Rhodes a star, albeit a shaky, unstable one.
My point was, when Zimmer had good dbs, his defense was always near the top. It plummeted in the last 2 years when he didn't have good dbs.
Average to solid DBs but we could stop the run. The 2017 defense was awesome because they were near the top in rushing defense. Since that time the rush defense has been on a steady decline and we all know how it went this year. Rhodes had a few really good seasons, but I never thought Waynes was that great, neither was Mack. Perhaps Zim was a bad CB evaluator?
Well IMO he was a defensive guru, but needed good DBs as does any good defensive coordinator. The run defense declined with Joseph getting hurt and his decline, but these past two seasons have been largely because our DBs were raw and not good.
He was at one point in time, but his inability to adjust was his downfall. Raw DBs hurt in 2020 but you can't say this season had raw DB's as PP and Breelaund just werent that good. Pierce taking off 2020 and then being hurt for half of 2021 really had an impact on the run D. Also, Xavier Woods was the only defensive starter to start and play all 17 games. Others to play all 17 games on defense were Wonnum, Watts, Richardson, and Troy Dye. I've been a Zimmer critic quite a bit the last two years, but not many coaches are going to have a lot of success on defense with that type of injury luck.
Things you don’t see in this thread: anyone saying Zimmer’s assessment of Cousins was wrong.
@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
I'm not just referring to the last play. I'm noting the entire drive our guys were at least 5 yards back from their receivers and we didnt blitz once. Dantzler shouldnt have been behind the guy but why were all guys at the end zone line? Pretty dumb call.I mentioned a couple weeks ago that all corners drafted by Zimmer in the first 3/4 rounds never signed their second contract with the Vikings. I highly doubt the sole reason for that is because Kirk made $30MM. We had a lot of other bad contracts during that time that were signed (Barr & Tagging Harris are two examples).
He didn't want Kirk, we know that. That's not his job though, that was Rick's. The HC isn't supposed to hold a grudge because you didn't want to pay high dollar for the best QB option that offseason. Vikes weren't going to win with Case, Teddy, or a rookie. Again, he needs to look in the mirror.
I agree to your last line, that was his failure and is pretty obvious right now.But not being able to resign the corners he drafted because they all signed big contracts elsewhere isn't a point of failing. He made Rhodes a star, albeit a shaky, unstable one.
My point was, when Zimmer had good dbs, his defense was always near the top. It plummeted in the last 2 years when he didn't have good dbs.
Average to solid DBs but we could stop the run. The 2017 defense was awesome because they were near the top in rushing defense. Since that time the rush defense has been on a steady decline and we all know how it went this year. Rhodes had a few really good seasons, but I never thought Waynes was that great, neither was Mack. Perhaps Zim was a bad CB evaluator?
Well IMO he was a defensive guru, but needed good DBs as does any good defensive coordinator. The run defense declined with Joseph getting hurt and his decline, but these past two seasons have been largely because our DBs were raw and not good.
He was at one point in time, but his inability to adjust was his downfall. Raw DBs hurt in 2020 but you can't say this season had raw DB's as PP and Breelaund just werent that good. Pierce taking off 2020 and then being hurt for half of 2021 really had an impact on the run D. Also, Xavier Woods was the only defensive starter to start and play all 17 games. Others to play all 17 games on defense were Wonnum, Watts, Richardson, and Troy Dye. I've been a Zimmer critic quite a bit the last two years, but not many coaches are going to have a lot of success on defense with that type of injury luck.
raw and not good. That was inclusive of the experienced ones. PP was ok, but Breeland sucked. Zimmer didn't have experienced DBs that knew his system.
@"greediron" said:@"VikingOracle" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
With all due respect, Zim would not have won with Rhodes, Waynes and Mac (and he spent a lot of draft capital on DBs). Under Zim, Rhodes raised his game to new heights but then came crashing down the last two seasons under Zimmer. Those last two years included 10 million dollar salaries. Wayne was good but made 20 million in 2020 (5 mill base and 15 mill signing bonus) and over 10 million last year and, because of injuries, hardly touched the field during those 2 seasons. And we all saw Mac this past season. I am not a big fan of Cousins but if you are talking about spending 30 million on Cousins or 30 million on Waynes and Rhodes (as Rhodes played his last 2 seasons) in 2020, well, the choice is fairly clear.
I like cousins and am not saying he wasn't worth the money.Rhodes crashed because he is rather flakey. BRob's lockerroom bits showed us what everyone knew about Planet Xe. Has the physical skills, but maybe got caught up in his own stardom. Waynes was a solid DB that many here didn't like, but he got paid by another team. Zim always had a top D when he had the backend players.
I agree you are not saying Cousins wasn't worth the money -- I believe you are just stating Zimmer's position that he would rather spend the money on defense. Zimmer's hyperfocus on defense is why he ultimately failed as a head coach. Also, I would guess that is Zimmer got cut out of certain draft/acquisition decisions. As JT18 pointed out above, in 2021 the Vikings had committed 12 million more on defense than offense prior to free agency. If Zimmer had his way, much more would have been allocated to defense. And Zimmer certainly did deliver much bang for the buck.
@"VikingOracle" said:@"greediron" said:@"VikingOracle" said:@"greediron" said:@"Hawkvike25" said: Openly complaining about Kirk during the season in which he (Zimmer) made numerous head scratching coaching decisions each game sure is something. Kirk isn't perfect but my god, have a look in the mirror Zimmer. I'll bet if you have a conversation with him today he would probably try to justify having the secondary so far off the Detroit receivers in the last drive. So glad that dbag is gone. Pretty sure Patrick Peterson spoke on that play, said that Dantzler was not playing that like they practiced. But I am sure that isn't why he was in Zim's doghouse, probably because Zimmer wanted him to play poorly and he wouldn't.Blaming the coach for players not playing the position seems to be a meme around here. After Zimmer lost Rhodes, Waynes and Mac, his defense suffered immensely. Hard to form a good solid back end with a bunch of rookies and castoffs.
Hmm, maybe that is why he didn't want to spend $30 mil on Cousins.
With all due respect, Zim would not have won with Rhodes, Waynes and Mac (and he spent a lot of draft capital on DBs). Under Zim, Rhodes raised his game to new heights but then came crashing down the last two seasons under Zimmer. Those last two years included 10 million dollar salaries. Wayne was good but made 20 million in 2020 (5 mill base and 15 mill signing bonus) and over 10 million last year and, because of injuries, hardly touched the field during those 2 seasons. And we all saw Mac this past season. I am not a big fan of Cousins but if you are talking about spending 30 million on Cousins or 30 million on Waynes and Rhodes (as Rhodes played his last 2 seasons) in 2020, well, the choice is fairly clear.
I like cousins and am not saying he wasn't worth the money.Rhodes crashed because he is rather flakey. BRob's lockerroom bits showed us what everyone knew about Planet Xe. Has the physical skills, but maybe got caught up in his own stardom. Waynes was a solid DB that many here didn't like, but he got paid by another team. Zim always had a top D when he had the backend players.
I agree you are not saying Cousins wasn't worth the money -- I believe you are just stating Zimmer's position that he would rather spend the money on defense. Zimmer's hyperfocus on defense is why he ultimately failed as a head coach. Also, I would guess that is Zimmer got cut out of certain draft/acquisition decisions. As JT18 pointed out above, in 2021 the Vikings had committed 12 million more on defense than offense prior to free agency. If Zimmer had his way, much more would have been allocated to defense. And Zimmer certainly did deliver much bang for the buck.
Yes, but Zimmer was also hamstrung by Rick's failure to provide a franchise QB and his unwillingness to keep drafting QBs.Many SB teams draft their QB and win while they are in the cheap rookie deal. Brady being the obvious exception. The Rams traded for a vet, but also spent lots of money and draft capital on defense.
My point is that we had lots of issues as to why we didn't win. Zimmer not liking the money spent on Cousins barely registers IMO. And it was said in a coaches meeting, not publicly. That is the place to be honest about players.
@"pattersaur" said: Things you don’t see in this thread: anyone saying Zimmer’s assessment of Cousins was wrong.Not looking very hard. Plenty have said Cousins isn't perfect, but you basically had a guy with slightly worse stats and a whole lot better D win a SB this year. Stafford did nothing more spectacular than Cousins all year but is suddenly in rarified air. Zimmer hammering his O-coordinators year after year, and showing no support/respect for his QB or for that matter special teams/PK makes me think the guy has some deep seated issues.
First off, it was Cousins who wanted the meetings with Zimmer, not the other way around. Zimmer would later state it was because Cousins wanted the option to make play call changes at the line. He wanted more say on the offensive play calling. Zimmer said no, run the plays. That’s coming from Zimmer during the season. Coincidentally, Eric Kendricks also desired some more flexibility. Can’t imagine why when Zimmer orders a soft zone on 3rd and 7 for the 10th time in a game. Kendricks was also told no way. So there you have it. We all watched a year of coaching stupidity, but it’s the QB’s fault lol! The 4th highest rating in the league who continuously put us in position to win despite the defense handing out points at the end of halves and the coach wanting super conservatism whenever we had the slightest lead. Yep, it’s the QB’s fault. I don’t think a person can come up with a more moronic conclusion.
Kirk Cousins can play exactly like he did this past year and if you can’t win with that, you’re a super shitty flicking coach. Period, end of story.
He was 4th in QB rating and 9th in QBR. He did that with play calling we all thought was garbage. He did it with a poor line. Stuff like the above article - irrational.
I could give a flying F if the coach likes any of the guys. Your job is to put them in the best position to have success. Liking and not liking a guy doesn’t matter at all, at least if you’re a guy who is a decent coach. On a side note, “his assistants”. You mean like his own son and the guys he moved up who had no business being there? There’s a reason why Zimmer bled coaches and Kirk Cousins did not cause that. Oh wait, I bet to some out there, that was Cousins too, lol!
This whole Cousins stuff has just gotten ridiculous. All I hear from actual football guys is they’d love to have him. It is only the pundits and writers who I hear this nonsense from. Some fans too, but they get a pass as most of them have not a clue how an offense works or if a guy is doing the right thing or not.
Either way, hopefully they come to an agreement soon and we can move forward. Problem is, I think everyone is waiting on what Rodgers new contract looks like and as we all know, he’s a flip flopping dbag. We’ll see if he sticks to his claim he’ll figure it out by free agency.
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