No longer the underdog, Kirk Cousins sits atop the mountain with sky-high expectations

With one signature, Kirk Cousins transformed from plucky overachiever unappreciated by his first employer into a franchise quarterback for a franchise that expects him to win a Super Bowl.For the Vikings, the price of signing Kirk Cousins was $84 million.
For Cousins, the price of signing was one chip.
He can’t pretend there’s one on his shoulder anymore.
The lifelong underdog has become an incredibly wealthy man and a financial trailblazer.
Never again will he be able to walk past a camera and scream, “You like that?!’’ because the answer would be, “We better.”
Never again will he be able to walk up to a team executive on the sideline, as he did in Washington, and crow, “How do you like me now?” Now, he is contractually obligated to make his performances likable.
Cousins’ statistics are impressive and his story was endearing until he took the podium at the Vikings’ new, posh facility in Eagan on Thursday and explained how he wound up in Minnesota.
With one signature, he was transformed from plucky overachiever unappreciated by his first employer into a franchise quarterback for a franchise that expects him to win a Super Bowl.
Because those are the stakes. The Vikings made it to the NFC Championship Game with Case Keenum, then decided Keenum wasn’t worthy of a lucrative investment, then signed the most expensive free agent on the market to replace him. Cousins’ job is to elevate a franchise that already is highly elevated. He’ll be asked to move the Vikings from a penthouse into a penthouse with a better view...

http://www.startribune.com/no-longer-the-underdog-kirk-cousins-sits-atop-the-mountain-with-sky-high-expectations/477184473/