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- Mar 19, 2019
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Minnesota’s rushing attach ranks fourth in the NFL with 135.9 rushing yards per game this season.
Shook added that Cousins “does the job even when others don’t.”
Finally, here’s the home run of advanced metrics. Cousins is a Next Gen Stats stud, especially since he joined the Vikings. In each of the last two seasons, Cousins has landed among the top three in completion percentage above expectation, with his +6.6 percent mark ranking second to Drew Brees among passers with at least 300 attempts in 2019. If we cut that requirement down to 239 attempts to fit Tannehill in, Cousins falls to third with a number that is still fantastic and would have led all passers in 2018.
Fourth on Shook’s list was Vikings safety Anthony Harris.
Harris undoubtedly benefits from playing in a defense that features sack master Danielle Hunter and a fearsome front seven that causes problems for nearly every offense it faces, but that shouldn’t exclude him from consideration for such an honor (Cardinals safety Budda Baker, a Pro Bowl starter for the NFC, plays in the same defense as stud edge rusher Chandler Jones). The luxury of playing in a quality defense shows in the few targets Harris has faced (16) as opposed to the 45 Baker has had to defend, but the difference in their PFF coverage grades is significant (Harris owns a 90 mark, while Baker ranks 48th at 64.9). We’re not trying to take away an honor earned by the up-and-coming Baker, but Harris has a solid case to replace the Arizona safety or fellow 2020 Pro Bowler Eddie Jackson, who ranks lower than Baker in the same category (62.8 coverage grade on 37 targets).
One argument this Vikings.com writer would like to make is that linebacker Eric Kendricks should have made the Pro Bowl; the fifth-year linebacker has been a playmaker all season and was overlooked by Pro Bowl voters and then by Shook.
A case also could be made for receiver Stefon Diggs, who notched his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. He has 60 receptions on 89 targets. No other receiver with 1,000 yards this season has fewer than 100 targets.