Kirk Cousins took a snub from his top receiver in-stride.
Earlier this month, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson was asked by Brazilian journalist Danilo Lacalle about who his top five quarterbacks in the NFL are, and Jefferson did not include his own QB on the list.
Instead, Jefferson named Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen.
Cousins was asked about it in an interview with KFAN, and he did not sound too bothered.
“I didn’t even see it. This is the first time hearing about it,” Cousins answered, as covered by SI.
“As a competitor, yeah, you always want that. People have to be honest and share what they think and I’m not going to tell somebody what they need to think and hopefully in 2024 I’ll be on his list. We’ll see what we can do this year.”
On one hand, it’s hard to argue with any of the names that Jefferson ranked ahead of Cousins.
He also probably never expected the moment to go viral.
On the other, perhaps Jefferson could have embellished to include Cousins on the list.
The Vikings went 13-4 last season, winning the NFC North, as Cousins threw for over 4,500 yards with 29 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.
Catching balls from Cousins, Jefferson had a monster season, with a league-high 128 catches and 1,809 receiving yards on route to winning the AP Offensive Player of the Year.
Still, it’s hard to say who Jefferson should have dropped from his list to make room for Cousins.
Cousins, by virtually every measure, had a better season than Rodgers last year.
Rodgers had fewer passing yards, touchdown passes, yards per attempt and a lower completion percentage as the Packers missed the playoffs.
However, in the bigger picture Rodgers had been coming off consecutive league MVP campaigns.
Cousins was shown in a fascinating light by “Quarterback,” the new Netflix series produced by Omaha Productions and NFL Films, that followed around Cousins, Mahomes and Marcus Mariota.
The docuseries shows the physical pain that Cousins must overcome to play the position week after week, and also takes viewers behind the scenes of the quarterback’s emotional and mental preparations.