02-13-2022, 06:18 PM
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is looking forward to a reunion with Kevin O’Connell. In 2017, O’Connell was quarterbacks coach at Washington and Cousins was in his final season with the team before signing as a free agent with Minnesota. O’Connell, offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams, will be named head coach of the Vikings after the Rams play the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday.
“He is a great football mind,” Cousins said of O’Connell on Friday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football”. “He’s been around a lot of a great football minds. He’s a hard worker. He was big in my development.”
There has been speculation that Cousins, due to make a guaranteed $35 million in 2022 with a salary-cap number of $45 million, could be traded because of the hefty numbers in the final year of his deal. He was not asked about that.
Cousins said he sees “a lot” of “similarities” between O’Connell, 36, and three other young NFL coaches. While he was with Washington from 2012-17, Cousins also worked with eventual head coaches Kyle Shanahan of San Francisco, Matt LaFleur of Green Bay and Sean McVay of the Rams.
“When (those three) were hired as head coaches, you knew they had great football minds, they were innovative, hard workers, good with people,” Cousins said on the show. “The only real question was they’re young, do they have the experience? I think time has proven with the case of Kyle, Matt and Sean, they knew what they were doing and they were able to learn quickly. … The fact that (O’Connell has) never been a head coach before, that he’s a little younger than a lot of head coaches, I think the track record with the other guys would suggest that he’ll be just fine.”
On Jan. 10, the Vikings fired head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman after a second straight losing season. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired Jan. 26 to replace Spielman as GM.
“Just looking forward to getting to work with the group we have moving forward,” Cousins said. “Expecting to have a much better year up ahead in 2022. I think we have the roster that can really make a run, so that’s exciting as a quarterback to feel like you have the pieces in place to be a great football team.”
https://www.twincities.com/2022/02/11/vi...-oconnell/
“He is a great football mind,” Cousins said of O’Connell on Friday on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football”. “He’s been around a lot of a great football minds. He’s a hard worker. He was big in my development.”
There has been speculation that Cousins, due to make a guaranteed $35 million in 2022 with a salary-cap number of $45 million, could be traded because of the hefty numbers in the final year of his deal. He was not asked about that.
Cousins said he sees “a lot” of “similarities” between O’Connell, 36, and three other young NFL coaches. While he was with Washington from 2012-17, Cousins also worked with eventual head coaches Kyle Shanahan of San Francisco, Matt LaFleur of Green Bay and Sean McVay of the Rams.
“When (those three) were hired as head coaches, you knew they had great football minds, they were innovative, hard workers, good with people,” Cousins said on the show. “The only real question was they’re young, do they have the experience? I think time has proven with the case of Kyle, Matt and Sean, they knew what they were doing and they were able to learn quickly. … The fact that (O’Connell has) never been a head coach before, that he’s a little younger than a lot of head coaches, I think the track record with the other guys would suggest that he’ll be just fine.”
On Jan. 10, the Vikings fired head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman after a second straight losing season. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired Jan. 26 to replace Spielman as GM.
“Just looking forward to getting to work with the group we have moving forward,” Cousins said. “Expecting to have a much better year up ahead in 2022. I think we have the roster that can really make a run, so that’s exciting as a quarterback to feel like you have the pieces in place to be a great football team.”
https://www.twincities.com/2022/02/11/vi...-oconnell/
