Happy Birthday to the Cousins

[MaroonBells]

https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/stat...80224?s=20

[Guest]

32 and no heir apparent yet. Not sure we can wait another year beyond next to nab a possible candidate. 2021 Draft better be the ticket as he'll be 33 before next season. 

[Guest]

@"StickyBun" said:
32 and no heir apparent yet. Not sure we can wait another year beyond next to nab a possible candidate. 2021 Draft better be the ticket as he'll be 33 before next season. 

They say the worst time to draft a QB is when you need one, but I don't think there's any hurry. Brees is 9 years older than Cousins. Brady is 11 years older. And while I don't necessarily expect him to play as long as those guys, the fact that he's almost never hurt, and like Brees and Brady, doesn't play a particularly risky game, it bodes well for a good 3 to 5 more years at least. 

[Guest]

Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, 32 on Wednesday, believes ‘best days are still ahead of me’

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins turned 32 on Wednesday. If you ask him, he’s just getting started.
“I believe my best days are still ahead of me, and I’m pretty convicted about that,” Cousins said on his birthday. “And I think I have reason to be. I think I’m a part of a great organization with a good football team with great coaches, and I still feel young.”
There is certainly precedent for older Vikings quarterbacks turning it on. Fran Tarkenton’s first playoff game appearance was with the Vikings in 1973 at the age of 33. He went on to lead Minnesota to three of the next four Super Bowls.
Warren Moon threw for more than 4,200 yards at age 38, then did it again the next season. Randall Cunningham led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game in 1998 at age 35, and Brett Favre got them to one in 2009 at age 40.
Then there were some banner years by former Vikings quarterbacks. After the 2002 season, Brad Johnson won a Super Bowl at age 34 for Tampa Bay while opposing Oakland’s Rich Gannon, who was 37 and had just been named NFL MVP.
“Two guys that Dennis Green didn’t think could play a lick of football,” Gannon said Wednesday. Green coached the Vikings from 1992-2001, and let both future Super Bowl quarterbacks go during his tenure. Johnson did return to Minnesota in 2005 under Mike Tice.
It doesn’t look as if Cousins, who is entering his third season with the Vikings and is under contract through 2022, will be going anywhere soon. And Gannon agrees that his best football is indeed ahead of him.
“I think so,” said Gannon, who played with the Vikings from 1987-92 and is now a CBS analyst. “I didn’t start playing my best football until I was 34, 35. … I would say this about Cousins: He doesn’t lack confidence, which I think is really important at his position. I think he’s got some swagger to him. He’s got some juice. He’s got some energy.”
Gannon played until he was 39, and wouldn’t be surprised to see Cousins do the same. The Vikings quarterback believes he has a lot of years left.
“Certainly my dream would be to be able to play a long time,” said Cousins, whose passer rating of 107.4 last season was the best in his eight-year career and ranked fourth in the NFL. “At the same time, I always kind of take each year as it comes. But there’s no doubt that to even have success this season, and stay healthy, and have your body feeling good, it takes good habits and a good plan.”
Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady is 43, and has said he wants to play until age 45. Cousins said he doesn’t have a goal of making it to a specific age, but believes what he is doing now will benefit him in later seasons.
“That involves work here at the (TCO Performance Center in Eagan),” Cousins said. “That involves seeing people outside our facility, and just kind of having a comprehensive plan to make sure your body is feeling good and can withstand the hits and the throws that you’re going to have day in and day out for the whole season and almost year-round with all the work we do to stay ready.”
Cousins is the oldest position player on the Vikings and the third-oldest player overall behind punter Britton Colquitt, 35, and kicker Dan Bailey, 32. But he’s still a youngster compared to some other NFL quarterbacks.
After Brady, the NFL’s oldest starting signal callers are New Orleans’ Drew Brees, 41, Indianapolis’ Phil Rivers, 38, and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, 38.
“(Those players are) taking amazingly good care of themselves in the offseason,” Gannon said. “It’s not uncommon for a guy to spend north of $100,000 on soft tissue specialists, chiropractor, acupuncture, nutritionist, personal trainers. If you’re going to spend $100,000 a year and it extends your career by two or three years and you’re making $15 million or $20 million a year, don’t tell me that’s not a good investment.”
Cousins signed a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings in March 2018, then a two-year, $66 million extension in March. He certainly expects to sign more contracts after that
https://www.twincities.com/2020/08/19/vi...ill-ahead/