Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins is the ugly duckling fantasy quarterback who found his way inside the top 12 producers (QB11, QB12) in back-to-back seasons. Cousins did so last season by directing a surprisingly up-tempo and more pass-heavy Vikings offense. Last year Minnesota was eighth and 12th in neutral pace and passing rate. With Kevin O'Connell at the controls this season, the passing rate could continue to be healthy (LAR, seventh), but the neutral pace could decline (LAR, 16th). If this happens and Adam Thielen takes a step back entering his age 32 season, Cousins will be rendered as a mid QB2.

The Minnesota Vikings passer finished as the QB11 in total fantasy points and QB12 in points per game in 2021. And his new head coach comes from an offense that threw more aggressively on early downs under neutral game scripts; fifth-highest rate over the past two seasons. The Vikings ranked 27th in the category. Don't be surprised to see Captain Kirk flirt with top-10 numbers in 2022. He finished last year as PFF's fourth-highest graded quarterback.

The walking definition of a league-average quarterback. Cousins' 2021 season was basically a carbon copy of his 2020 season, and he finished QB11 in fantasy scoring both years. It's possible he plays somewhere other than Minnesota in 2022, but a $35 million base salary will make him hard to move. For fantasy purposes, he's a safe, boring investment.

Cousins problem is consistency, he had seven fantasy weeks where he was a Top-10 option and five weeks where he finished outside the Top-15. He's a QB2, because he cannot be trusted to bring it every week.