08-02-2021, 12:17 PM
WHAT ZIMMER WANTS FROM COUSINSEAGEN, Minn. — You sure could see the frustration in Mike Zimmer’s face on Saturday, as he detailed the hit the Vikings will take with quarterbacks Kirk Cousins, Kellen Mond, and Nate Stanley going on the COVID-19 list. Mond is vaccinated and tested positive. The other two were designated high-risk close contacts, which implies, via the rules, that they have not been vaccinated. All three will lose valuable camp time.
The lone quarterback left on the team, at the time, was Jake Browning.
“He’s out there,” Zimmer told the media. “He’s available, that’s important. It’s important to be available in a team sport.”
Zimmer wasn’t being subtle. Cousins’s sudden unavailability won’t help him in the runup to what everyone here is hoping will be a very big year for the quarterback.
Three days earlier, Zimmer and I had talked about the team’s quarterback room, and where Cousins’s next step as the Vikings leader would come. Cousins is in his fourth year in Minnesota and piloting an offense that’ll be relying on a lot of youth. Because of both of those things—Cousins’s tenure and the lack of it in spots elsewhere—Zimmer met with his quarterback about his place in the locker room, and with his teammates a while back.
“We just talked about some of the things moving forward—him being more assertive, giving him the authority, and being able to show his emotions a little more,” Zimmer told me. “He is the quarterback of the team, and guys respect him for his play, but he can help other guys rise to another level. … I was with [Troy] Aikman, and Aikman and Kirk were similar guys, very detailed in everything that they did.
“But when Troy was pissed off, you knew about it. And I told [Cousins], it’s O.K. to be pissed off sometimes, it’s O.K. to tell a receiver he’s not doing the right thing. Or if someone comes in and says, Get me the ball, it’s O.K. to say, You know what? I’ll get you the ball when my read goes to you. Those are the things we talked about a lot, just taking over more.”
During the Vikings’ first practice of camp, some of that was evident.
On one play, during red-zone work at the end of the session, Cousins pointed to and directed 22-year-old tight end Irv Smith Jr. before the snap, then unleashed a throw to the back pylon between two defenders. From there, he ran over to Smith in the end zone yelling as if the toss had won the Super Bowl. In the moment, it felt like Cousins was making the offense his own, and getting to what Zimmer was getting at.
“It was tough to emotionally be a leader on the team right away, because I was a free agent, I was new,” Cousins told me. “As a quarterback, you’re still leading, I’m still very vocal, very involved, there’s a presence there. But the longer you’re here, the more you can understand how the organization works, the dynamics of the team, and assert yourself. So your leadership does grow every year you’re here.”
And to Cousins, really, that has meant investing back in the young guys, with Zimmer’s blessing to push the envelope in doing it.
“I just want to invest in them in every way, not just football-wise, but it’s helping them to be young men,” he says. “I’m married with two kids now. When I entered the league, I was a single guy. And so I look at these guys and I say, 10 years from now, you’ll look back and hopefully say the same thing. You want to help them not only as football players but as men, making the right decisions, and knowing what it takes to have that sustained success year after year and have a long career.
“To Rick’s credit, Zim’s credit, they’re bringing in great people and great players to our locker room. So we have a great group. They aren’t hard to lead, which makes it fun.”
Cousins is now on his fourth coordinator in four years in Minnesota (and sixth in his last six years overall), so he’s positioned well to be a steady force for all the young guys around him. And as he and I discussed his focus on that—“It’s less about me right now and more about my teammates. As a quarterback, how can I help them?”—he also dove into what he’s doing to maintain a high level of play.
“Sleep was something for me—I’d go to bed at 11, I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he says. “Now I go to bed at 9. Like the NBA Finals were on this summer, and at 25 years old I’m staying up to watch every shot of the Finals until the very end. I don’t think I watched a single point. Watched the pregame show, but then I’d go to bed. When I wake up in the morning, I check the score right away, because I love sports. But staying up is something I just don’t do anymore.”
All of that’s great. But for now, he can’t reap any of the benefits of the extra sleep, or having an amplified voice in the locker room, which is why Zimmer was so frustrated the other night. It’s hard to blame him.
The lone quarterback left on the team, at the time, was Jake Browning.
“He’s out there,” Zimmer told the media. “He’s available, that’s important. It’s important to be available in a team sport.”
Zimmer wasn’t being subtle. Cousins’s sudden unavailability won’t help him in the runup to what everyone here is hoping will be a very big year for the quarterback.
Three days earlier, Zimmer and I had talked about the team’s quarterback room, and where Cousins’s next step as the Vikings leader would come. Cousins is in his fourth year in Minnesota and piloting an offense that’ll be relying on a lot of youth. Because of both of those things—Cousins’s tenure and the lack of it in spots elsewhere—Zimmer met with his quarterback about his place in the locker room, and with his teammates a while back.
“We just talked about some of the things moving forward—him being more assertive, giving him the authority, and being able to show his emotions a little more,” Zimmer told me. “He is the quarterback of the team, and guys respect him for his play, but he can help other guys rise to another level. … I was with [Troy] Aikman, and Aikman and Kirk were similar guys, very detailed in everything that they did.
“But when Troy was pissed off, you knew about it. And I told [Cousins], it’s O.K. to be pissed off sometimes, it’s O.K. to tell a receiver he’s not doing the right thing. Or if someone comes in and says, Get me the ball, it’s O.K. to say, You know what? I’ll get you the ball when my read goes to you. Those are the things we talked about a lot, just taking over more.”
During the Vikings’ first practice of camp, some of that was evident.
On one play, during red-zone work at the end of the session, Cousins pointed to and directed 22-year-old tight end Irv Smith Jr. before the snap, then unleashed a throw to the back pylon between two defenders. From there, he ran over to Smith in the end zone yelling as if the toss had won the Super Bowl. In the moment, it felt like Cousins was making the offense his own, and getting to what Zimmer was getting at.
“It was tough to emotionally be a leader on the team right away, because I was a free agent, I was new,” Cousins told me. “As a quarterback, you’re still leading, I’m still very vocal, very involved, there’s a presence there. But the longer you’re here, the more you can understand how the organization works, the dynamics of the team, and assert yourself. So your leadership does grow every year you’re here.”
And to Cousins, really, that has meant investing back in the young guys, with Zimmer’s blessing to push the envelope in doing it.
“I just want to invest in them in every way, not just football-wise, but it’s helping them to be young men,” he says. “I’m married with two kids now. When I entered the league, I was a single guy. And so I look at these guys and I say, 10 years from now, you’ll look back and hopefully say the same thing. You want to help them not only as football players but as men, making the right decisions, and knowing what it takes to have that sustained success year after year and have a long career.
“To Rick’s credit, Zim’s credit, they’re bringing in great people and great players to our locker room. So we have a great group. They aren’t hard to lead, which makes it fun.”
Cousins is now on his fourth coordinator in four years in Minnesota (and sixth in his last six years overall), so he’s positioned well to be a steady force for all the young guys around him. And as he and I discussed his focus on that—“It’s less about me right now and more about my teammates. As a quarterback, how can I help them?”—he also dove into what he’s doing to maintain a high level of play.
“Sleep was something for me—I’d go to bed at 11, I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he says. “Now I go to bed at 9. Like the NBA Finals were on this summer, and at 25 years old I’m staying up to watch every shot of the Finals until the very end. I don’t think I watched a single point. Watched the pregame show, but then I’d go to bed. When I wake up in the morning, I check the score right away, because I love sports. But staying up is something I just don’t do anymore.”
All of that’s great. But for now, he can’t reap any of the benefits of the extra sleep, or having an amplified voice in the locker room, which is why Zimmer was so frustrated the other night. It’s hard to blame him.
![[Image: sack8_1_21color.jpg]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751731/sack8_1_21color.jpg)
