Things I loved from the draft

 Leaving Cousins out of it for a moment, the backup QB position is as important as some starting positions; if you don't have a competent one, a single injury can be catastrophic for a season.  

Which team is better?
- Vikings with Mond as a backup QB + Jones II / Robinson rotating in at DE with DJ. Wonnum
- Vikings with Nate Stanley or Manion as a backup QB + Ossai rotating in with Wonnum

The fact that Mond might turn out to be good enough to be a new starter in a year or two is just gravy.  

I agree... I've been seeing this narrative taking shape.

As if Mond is a 6th round flyer... who cares if he works out or not.... it was worth the gamble.

Well yes, we all agree he was worth the gamble in 3rd round... however, it MOST DEFINITELY does matter that he has to work out.

This is not a throwaway pick.

It is Rick's job to make the pieces fit so that the draft pick works out. Aka it is his job to GET IT RIGHT.

Barely in the top 1/3 of the league... so call that somewhere between QB 10 and QB12.

A contract that, at $33M average annual value, is currently #8 in QB costs/year, that is soon to be leapfrogged by Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson as they come off rookie deals. But Ok - Allen and Jackson haven't been paid yet, so look up the 10th most expensive contract: Matt Ryan at $30M AAV. This means Cousins contract is right at market value to, at worst, about $3M/year over paid.


By all accounts, Cousins puts in the work to develop himself and make the team betters.

Last year, Forbes estimates Cousins' endorsement value at around only $2.5M annually. So he is paid a market rate with a modest amount of endorsement income.
Forbes - Kirk Cousins

Just to clarify here: the Vikes will not be paying Kirk $45m in 2022 - if he plays in 2022 for Minnesota on his current deal, he will earn a base salary of $35m (which will be paid) and the Vikings will absorb $10m of a pro-rated signing bonus we gave him in 2020, so his cap hit for 2022 will be $45m but he'll only actually be paid $35m. 

What the drafting of Mond could do is give the Vikings some flexibility next offseason with regards to the QB position. If they wanted to move on from Cousins, they would have someone who at least had 1 season behind him (and 4 seasons of starting experience at Texas A&M) so they could use the $35m in cap savings (if they traded him) and address other areas of need. They would need to find a team willing to take on Cousins' $35m salary for 2022 and I'm not sure anyone would given that teams that traded for Stafford and Wentz this offseason are only taking on cap hits of around $20-$25m for 2021/2022 - about $10m less than Cousins' $35m cap hit for a team trading for him, but still, there could be a team desperate enough to take that on. 

If we didn't draft Mond and we wanted to move away from Cousins next offseason, the Vikes would either be looking at the free agent market yet again (ie, overpaying market price for a starting QB) or the 2022 Draft. At least with Mond, you can roll with a QB with 4 years of college starting experience and 1 season of being in an NFL system behind Cousins so Mond could probably more easily step in Week 1 of 2022 vs a rookie QB drafted in 2022. 

....and I think that "experience" was probably the key when the Vikes selected him over Kyle Trask & Davis Mills, who have only started 22 games and 11 games respectively, compared to Mond who started a total of 44 games over 4 seasons. If Kirk really doesn't step up in 2021, they won't be handing the ball off to someone who doesn't have a great deal of starting experience. 

Even in 2018, Cousins was not the top of the market for QBs. In 2018, the following deals were signed:
- Cousins: 3 year, $84M = $28M AAV
- Ryan: 5 year, $150M = $30M AAV
- Rodgers: 4 year, $134M = $33.5M AAV
- Garroppolo: 5 year, $137.5M = $27.5M AAV (almost matching Cousins with less history)

In 2019, those deals were then topped by:
- Wilson: 4 year, $140M = $35M AAV
- Roethlisberger: 2 year, $68M = $34M AAV
- Goff: 4 year, $134M = $33.5M AAV
- Wentz: 4 year, $128M = $32M AAV

Not only was Cousins never the #1 paid QB, his $33M extension he signed in 2020 that starts in 2021 doesn't even top 4 of the deals signed in 2018 & 2019. Additionally, the % of what Cousins earns vs. the #1 QB has actually gone down.
2018: Cousins AAV was $28M to Rodgers $33.5M, Cousins was paid 84 cents on the dollar compared to the #1 QB.
2021: Cousins AAV is $33M to Mahomes $45M, Cousins is now paid 73 cents on the dollar compared to the #1 QB; or if Mahomes is an outlier, Cousins is paid 82 cents on the dollar compared to Dak Prescot.

LOL every Kirk discussion turns in the same, dumb direction. He should take less money that mean old greenhead! No he shouldn't. Other than Tom "my wife is a billionaire" Brady, no one should. All NFL players "follow the money". Careers are short and teams are merciless when it's time to cut guys loose.

I've said that Kirk is a football gravity well who inexorably pulls his team towards a .500 record.

Kirk seems to have the same effect on this board--every topic mutates into people agonizing over his bank account lol.