In the competitive landscape of the NFL, players often strive to focus on their individual performance instead of the collective effort. Very few players in the league are like the retired NFL star Tom Brady who seemed to focus more on pushing his squad toward an upward trajectory, displaying phenomenal leadership skills. Nevertheless, the Minnesota Vikings Kirk Cousins can be placed on the list as well.
Cousins helped ensure a 13-4 season for his team last year, winning the NFC North title in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2008 and 2009. Recently, an NFL reporter disclosed how the football prodigy arranged a long session for his fellow teammates to boost their energy, further solidifying his leadership qualities.
Steve Wyche reveals Kirk Cousins addressing Viking teammates, staff
NFL Network’s Sam Wyche visited the Vikings training camp practice on Friday and revealed he heard from a player and a coach that Cousins gave a 30-minute “riveting” presentation to his teammates on Thursday night. He revealed how the veteran’s words were injecting motivation into the new players on the team,
“The people who told me about this said it was absolutely riveting. The fact that Kirk Cousins is one of the oldest guys on the team [and] was touching guys who just came into the league with this message, where they were like ‘This is our leader. This is a righteous guy that we want to get behind.”
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins addressed teammates and coaches Thursday. From what I was told, he further emboldened trust and respect after his “riveting” presentation. pic.twitter.com/7adoN38S5T
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) July 29, 2023
Wyche said the signal-caller discussed his journey as a backup QB in the Washington Commanders and shed light on the efforts he had given to get better over the years including activities like “lift[ing] weights on a certain day or drinking a certain amount of water.”
The insider said the Vikings’ dual-threat heaped praise on his former backup Nick Mullens who suggested recording the play calls and listening to them later. The move was highly beneficial and Kirk raved about Nick for not letting envy come in the way to help him as a starter,
“He said that’s an example of leading up because [Mullens] didn’t have to share that because he’s the backup. He could have been envious or whatever and said ‘I’m not going to help out the starter.'”
Vikings stay for Cousins to reach the conclusion
In Episode 3 of the Netflix series “Quarterback” featuring Cousins, Patrick Mahomes, and Marcus Mariota, the Vikings QB discussed his feelings about playing such a key position in the NFL while explaining how it sometimes becomes the ‘worst job alive’. The series highlighted the topic of the 34-year-old star’s potential future with the franchise ranging from their decision to not keep him in the squad with an extension this spring.
Minnesota’s decision to not keep Cousins enrolled in their roster was based on multiple things including salary cap considerations and roster conditions ahead of the training camp. The Pro-Bowler said in the episode how the cumulative effects of those hits could have a deep impact on his performance and availability in the league over the next few years,
“The key for me is not just being able to survive a game or the hits from a game. The challenge is [whether] you can come back six days from now and do it again, and can you do it again and again and again for an entire season.”
The Vikings seem to have made up their mind not to restructure Cousins’ contract with a multiyear extension, albeit they let him enter training camp in the potential final year of his tenure and also neglected to take a replacement player in the position during the first round of the NFL draft.
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