11-19-2023, 03:35 PM
Kirk Cousins leans on faith, looks forward to resuming his career as a VikingIn his first news conference since tearing his Achilles, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said he wants to end his career in Minnesota but that he's learning to hold his career "loosely."
The Vikings' first two games of November were the first two Cousins has missed in his career because of his injury; he watched their win over the Falcons with his foot propped up on a couch, tossing footballs to his son Cooper in the basement of his house, and stayed home with his younger son Turner while his wife, Julie, took Cooper to last week's win over the Saints.
The first significant injury of Cousins' pro career has also forced the notoriously fastidious quarterback to figure out how to use his time, through a process that sounds very unlike him. "Just trial and error," he said.
He's settled on a routine that begins with the Vikings' 90-minute quarterback meeting, where he'll learn the game plan alongside the team's active QBs "and offer an occasional thought, if I have one," he said. Then, he heads to rehab while teammates are lifting weights or attending additional meetings. When the Vikings practice, he heads home to continue rehab with Cook. Coach Kevin O'Connell texts him, asking for any thoughts he has on the game plan or opportunities to attack opposing defenses.
Cousins has dined with teammates in the lunch room and wheeled through the locker room on a foot scooter Thursday while wearing a Creed T-shirt. On Tuesday, his first day out of a cast, Cousins went with Julie and Cooper to serve Thanksgiving meals alongside teammates and their families at the St. Paul Salvation Army.
"Based upon the timeline, we really didn't think we'd be able to have him much in the building, and he has already been in a bunch of quarterback meetings," O'Connell said Wednesday. "I know him and Josh [Dobbs] have talked a lot, him and I have talked a lot. He knows our offense — he knows it as well as any of us, pretty much. It is kind of similar to our normal dialogue of Monday and Tuesday, and as he gets into his tape study, I just [told] him, 'I just want you to be involved. I just want you to be around our team.' He is going to start traveling when he gets cleared to do that. I think it will be a huge bonus for everybody to have him around."
The Vikings added two void years to Cousins' contract this spring when the team and quarterback were unable to agree on a long-term extension, putting Cousins in line to become a free agent after the season. In recent weeks, both General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell have indicated they want Cousins to return, though as Adofo-Mensah reiterated, whether or not that can happen will depend on negotiations.
At the time of his injury, Cousins was tied for the NFL lead in passing touchdowns, ranked second in yards, third in passer rating and fifth in completion percentage, despite having played three games without Justin Jefferson.
Cousins said again on Friday he wants to end his career in Minnesota. After Washington drafted him in the fourth round in 2012, he said he made it his goal to play his entire career for one team. When that didn't happen and he signed with the Vikings, he thought, "Not only do I want to be just a two-team quarterback, I want the run in [Minnesota] to go so well that I'm remembered as basically a one-team quarterback, that I played for the Minnesota Vikings."
Friday he said, "That desire hasn't changed. That's still the same. There's a lot that's out of my control in that. You can want a lot of things; that doesn't mean it's going to happen. So I keep an open mind, but certainly would love for that to be the case."
As with his injury, he's trying to hold his future loosely.
"It's not something you look back and say, 'Oh, in spite of that, I did this or was a part of this.' It's more of a: 'Because that happened, it made me better and enabled me to go where I want to go,'" he said. "So that's kind of the way I want to look at it. You kind of have to check back in five years and say, 'What happened?' Until then, you're just on the journey.
"https://www.startribune.com/kirk-cousins-minnesota-vikings-future-achilles-injury/600320662/
The Vikings' first two games of November were the first two Cousins has missed in his career because of his injury; he watched their win over the Falcons with his foot propped up on a couch, tossing footballs to his son Cooper in the basement of his house, and stayed home with his younger son Turner while his wife, Julie, took Cooper to last week's win over the Saints.
The first significant injury of Cousins' pro career has also forced the notoriously fastidious quarterback to figure out how to use his time, through a process that sounds very unlike him. "Just trial and error," he said.
He's settled on a routine that begins with the Vikings' 90-minute quarterback meeting, where he'll learn the game plan alongside the team's active QBs "and offer an occasional thought, if I have one," he said. Then, he heads to rehab while teammates are lifting weights or attending additional meetings. When the Vikings practice, he heads home to continue rehab with Cook. Coach Kevin O'Connell texts him, asking for any thoughts he has on the game plan or opportunities to attack opposing defenses.
Cousins has dined with teammates in the lunch room and wheeled through the locker room on a foot scooter Thursday while wearing a Creed T-shirt. On Tuesday, his first day out of a cast, Cousins went with Julie and Cooper to serve Thanksgiving meals alongside teammates and their families at the St. Paul Salvation Army.
"Based upon the timeline, we really didn't think we'd be able to have him much in the building, and he has already been in a bunch of quarterback meetings," O'Connell said Wednesday. "I know him and Josh [Dobbs] have talked a lot, him and I have talked a lot. He knows our offense — he knows it as well as any of us, pretty much. It is kind of similar to our normal dialogue of Monday and Tuesday, and as he gets into his tape study, I just [told] him, 'I just want you to be involved. I just want you to be around our team.' He is going to start traveling when he gets cleared to do that. I think it will be a huge bonus for everybody to have him around."
The Vikings added two void years to Cousins' contract this spring when the team and quarterback were unable to agree on a long-term extension, putting Cousins in line to become a free agent after the season. In recent weeks, both General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell have indicated they want Cousins to return, though as Adofo-Mensah reiterated, whether or not that can happen will depend on negotiations.
At the time of his injury, Cousins was tied for the NFL lead in passing touchdowns, ranked second in yards, third in passer rating and fifth in completion percentage, despite having played three games without Justin Jefferson.
Cousins said again on Friday he wants to end his career in Minnesota. After Washington drafted him in the fourth round in 2012, he said he made it his goal to play his entire career for one team. When that didn't happen and he signed with the Vikings, he thought, "Not only do I want to be just a two-team quarterback, I want the run in [Minnesota] to go so well that I'm remembered as basically a one-team quarterback, that I played for the Minnesota Vikings."
Friday he said, "That desire hasn't changed. That's still the same. There's a lot that's out of my control in that. You can want a lot of things; that doesn't mean it's going to happen. So I keep an open mind, but certainly would love for that to be the case."
As with his injury, he's trying to hold his future loosely.
"It's not something you look back and say, 'Oh, in spite of that, I did this or was a part of this.' It's more of a: 'Because that happened, it made me better and enabled me to go where I want to go,'" he said. "So that's kind of the way I want to look at it. You kind of have to check back in five years and say, 'What happened?' Until then, you're just on the journey.
"https://www.startribune.com/kirk-cousins-minnesota-vikings-future-achilles-injury/600320662/
