Washington Redskins: The impossible rise of Kirk Cousins
By Ian Cummings
Nothing flashy.
Grass. Not turf. Fading white lines. Rickety bleachers. Widened goal posts. A dark red logo that’s been kept up just enough to avoid blending into the verdure.
Not far away, the crystal blue waters of the great Lake Michigan lie, teeming below the stars at night. In the winter, if it gets cold enough, and the temperature passes the solidus, the molecules slow their petulant vibrations. The idle waters seize up, and all at once, a body of liquid is turned to a mammoth field of glossy ice. Its very state of matter altered in one moment.
A spectacular transformation.
This is Holland Christian. The home of the Maroons. The place where a legend sparked, and grew. Where an improbable rise to fame began. Where another spectacular transformation blossomed. Once maroon, now burgundy. A phase change of the ages. This is where Kirk Cousins got his start.
It’s nothing flashy. But sometimes there’s more there than what meets the eye. The same can be said for Kirk Cousins himself. Through every step of his football career, Cousins has been labeled as just that. Nothing flashy. He was a two star recruit coming out of high school. His draft profile on NFL.com in 2012, authored by Lance Zierlein, labeled him as a “game manager”.
And still, even after Cousins has usurped the Washington Redskins’ starting job and thrown for 99 touchdowns to 55 interceptions in three years, people still aren’t sold on him. Blind to the flashes of greatness that burn bright on the football field.
Almost six years after being drafted by the Washington Redskins, Kirk Cousins is on the verge of leaving. To take his legacy somewhere else. In his time in D.C., Cousins has effectively polarized a fanbase. Some believe he’s the savior of this franchise, and his presence will be missed more than anyone knows. Others dismiss him as a hinderance of progress, an obstacle in the way of true growth and continuity.
What Cousins truly is, and what he means to D.C. will not be known, in its entirety, until the time that he’s far gone. The time when fans may either miss him, or be glad that he’s taken his aspirations somewhere else.
No one seems to agree on Kirk Cousins, and whether he should stay or go. In those talks, you’ll find dollar signs and not much else. But on the football field, in the locker room, in the film room, and when no one else is working but him, we can all agree. Kirk Cousins’ impossible rise is unparalleled in history.
An impossible rise that, against all odds, became reality.