Greg Cosell's Film Review: Kirk Cousins has matured into a good quarterback

Perhaps we’re too worried about labels when it comes to Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Is he a “system quarterback” who is “managed” by coach Jay Gruden and his scheme? Well, what we can say definitively about Cousins is he is an improving player operating really efficiently in a well-designed and well-schemed offense. He is producing a lot of yards (second in the NFL this season with 3,540), touchdowns (43 over his last 21 games, with just 10 interceptions) and helping the Redskins win games (10-4-1 record over their last 15 regular-season games).

And isn’t that the job of any quarterback?

As Cousins gets ready to lead Washington into a huge road game against the Arizona Cardinals, a game that’s critical for the Redskins in the playoff race, it’s worth looking at where Cousins is right now. To do that we have to look back at the labels that were placed on him earlier in his career.

Cousins became Washington’s full-time starter in 2015. He had nine career starts at that point, which is not enough to draw any real conclusions, although people had already formed some opinions on him. Then he had a bad start to the 2015 season, as he was still learning. There was a time everyone thought Cousins was an interception machine. He’s clearly not that.

The coaching staff has a well-designed and orchestrated passing game and the coaches have an excellent feel for what Cousins’ strengths and limitations are. That’s what good coaching is. And Cousins has been executing the Washington offense at a high level.

Here’s an example of Washington calling a well-designed play and Cousins executing it perfectly. Against the Green Bay Packers in Week 11, the Packers were in “2 man” defense with two deep safeties. The front-side route concept had DeSean Jackson and Jamison Crowder on straight go routes. Deep safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix widened to Jackson, leaving Crowder one-on-one with Quinten Rollins. Crowder ran by Rollins easily and Cousins made the right read for a 44-yard touchdown.

When a quarterback enters the NFL there’s a normal progression. The first thing a quarterback needs to learn is his own offense. That takes time, because there are so many elements to a good offense. Then they learn about defenses, first abstractly and then specifically about opposing defensive coordinators and their tendencies. Then they learn about situational football.

Some quarterbacks have instant success in the NFL, and that makes us want immediate results from them all. It takes time for most quarterbacks, and you see this progression in Cousins.

Here’s a play that shows a quarterback who has taken strides in learning the nuances of playing the position. Again against the Packers, Cousins initially looked to Jordan Reed, who was matched on safety Morgan Burnett. But when Reed was covered well Cousins came back to Jackson, who had Micah Hyde in a coverage mismatch. Jackson beat Hyde and Cousins hit him for an 11-yard touchdown. This is good awareness and progression reading by Cousins.

Cousins probably also had to learn about himself. He has a good arm, but not a great one. It’s above average. He had to learn, I’m sure, what throws he could and couldn’t make.

Ron Jaworski, who I work alongside at NFL Films, told me a story about legendary offensive coach Sid Gillman joining Dick Vermeil’s staff with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1980. Jaworski had been in the league for a while, but Gillman told him, “In practice and preseason I want you to try any throw you think you can make, because that’s when you find out if you can make them or if you can’t. You learn something.” Quarterbacks have to go through that process of figuring out what they’re capable of.

Cousins has seemingly figured out which throws he can and can’t make. That’s probably a reason for his success, and probably a reason he has cut down on his mistakes. A strength of Cousins’ game is his ability to make firm touch throws, throws that don’t demand an excellent arm but require what I call velocity with touch. Cousins is very good on those kinds of throws.

Here are two examples from last week against the Dallas Cowboys. Against a blitz, Cousins had an excellent timing throw to Jackson on a corner route, in the outside void against halves coverage on that side of the field. His timing, velocity and touch allowed him to get this pass to Jackson between two defenders.

Then later in the game against the Cowboys, Vernon Davis ran a corner route in the outside void of Dallas’ “Cover 2” zone. And Cousins made the same firm touch throw to him for 26 yards.

Cousins’ talent didn’t jump off the film when he came out of Michigan State. That’s why he was a fourth-round pick. He wasn’t a Matthew Stafford-type, who was a first overall pick because of his great physical skills. Cousins had to learn how to be efficient, and that takes time.

Think back to Drew Brees, when he finished his second full NFL season with the San Diego Chargers. He was a nice player. But did anybody think he become the Drew Brees we see now? Theoretically, why couldn’t Cousins continue on this track and with more experience in Gruden’s system (remember, Brees has been in the same system since 2006) become a top quarterback? He’s already a really efficient player in a well-designed offense.

Nobody knows what Cousins is going to be in five years. But over the last year or so he has developed into a very productive quarterback.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.