In the competitive world of sports, one of fans’ and analysts’ favorite pastimes is to rank players and argue over their take. Players themselves are not an exception to the trend. They may not directly get involved in the debate but they sometimes respond when asked to provide their take on the top list in the league.
While most athletes prefer to rank their fellow teammates in the top list, the Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson chose to be an exception as he recently opted out from taking the name of his fellow quarterback Kirk Cousins name in the top 5 NFL QB list.
Justin Jefferson snubs Kirk Cousins in Top 5 NFL QB list
During an ambassador trip to Brazil, RedeTV’s Danillo Lacalle asked Jefferson to list his top five quarterbacks in the NFL. He surprised a huge chunk of the football fanbase by taking names of the Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes, the New York Jets Aaron Rodgers, the Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow, the Philadelphia Eagles Jalen Hurts, and the Buffalo Bills Josh Allen, totally ignoring his fellow teammate Kirk.
Update: #Vikings Justin Jefferson revealed his Top 5 NFL QBs;
1) #Chiefs Patrick Mahomes
2) #Jets Aaron Rodgers
3) #Bengals Joe Burrow
4) #Eagles Jalen Hurts
5) #Bills Josh AllenHe didn't include his own QB Kirk Cousins. pic.twitter.com/1sQU6P5Dpd
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 11, 2023
The duo showcased phenomenal performance in the last year. Minnesota quarterback threw for a career-high 4,547 yards and 29 touchdowns, leading his squad to a playoff appearance with a 13-4 record. Meanwhile, the Vikings wide receiver recorded 128 receptions for 1,809 yards along with 8 touchdowns and led the NFL in yards per touch for back-to-back two seasons.
Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson’s friendship
Cousins and Jefferson share a peachy bond between themselves. The Vikings WR also supported his teammate when Ian Rapaport, Deion Sanders, and Sage Rosenfels raised a finger on the legitimacy of the QB’s game back in 2021.
The 24-year-old star defended his partner in Jim Rome’s podcast in the same year saying Cousins was topping the league at that time,
“He definitely takes a lot of heat, he takes way more heat than he really deserves. If you look at the numbers he’s on the top of the league. He’s been doing a lot of things for this team and for this offense.”
Nevertheless, he himself kicked out his own QB from the top-5 list now, albeit the Vikings QB seems unbothered about the list.
During a recent appearance on KFAN-FM 100.3’s The Power Trip, Kirk was asked if he was bothered to be excluded from his teammate’s top 5 list. The signal-caller said he didn’t have any idea of the topic, “I didn’t even see it so, this is the first time hearing about it.”
The 34-year-old veteran said every player wants to top the list beating his competitors and wished to be featured in his colleague’s list in the upcoming year,
“As a competitor, yeah, you’d always want [to be included] but 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, you know? We’ll see what we can do this year.”
What is your take on the situation? Let us know in the comments below!
