Patrick Mahomes is picking a fight with the Kirk Cousins haters

Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes is standing firmly between Kirk Cousins and his haters, choosing the Vikings quarterback as the most underrated in the NFL.

Who is the most underrated quarterback in the NFL?

Patrick Mahomes didn’t hesitate answering that question: Kirk Cousins.

The Chiefs quarterback nominated his Vikings counterpart during an interview related to the shared Netflix show “Quarterback,” H/T Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

"“I think this guy right here,” Mahomes said. “I mean, if you look at Kirk over here, man. Wins every year. Puts up great stats. Did it in Washington. Does it in Minnesota. Talk to any other quarterbacks in the league, and they’re gonna say the same thing.”“I’d agree with that,” Mariota said. “I’ve been in a few systems and [with] a few coaches. And a lot of the tape that we’d watch was of Kirk. A guy consistently, year in and year out, continues to prove why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the league.”"

Mahomes and Marcus Mariota agreed about Cousins’ status as underrated, with the Chiefs QB claiming a consensus of NFL quarterbacks on that front. And that may be so.

Is Patrick Mahomes right about Kirk Cousins being underrated?

Cousins is underrated in one very clear sense: He gets called a bad quarterback and that’s absurd. He’s a good quarterback who gets hate because he’s not a great one.

He’s the best of the middle-tier quarterbacks in the NFL. And it’s partly the fault of guys like Mahomes that he’s judged so harshly. When you watch Mahomes elevate the Chiefs the way he does, the fact that Cousins hasn’t done that for the Vikings gets highlighted. If the only quarterbacks Cousins was judged against were in Mariota’s tier, his reputation would be different.

Worse quarterbacks than Cousins have won Super Bowls. Better quarterbacks have never gotten close to them. But he’ll still be defined by whether or not he’s capable of taking the Vikings to the promised land. His 1-3 playoff record is working against him.