Kirk Cousins on Fire at Vikings Camp Wednesday; Talked Kellen Mond After

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Jun 9, 2021

Kirk Cousins holds the Minnesota Vikings 2021 season in his hands. Sure, the offensive line could break down again or the many defensive improvements made this offseason could show, in hindsight, not to be improvements at all.

But with the weapons around him and holes filled where those weapons are lacking, this looks like a Kirk Cousins make-or-break year. After drafting Kellen Mond in day two of April’s draft, it’s clear the Vikings feel the same way.

Early in offseason workouts, highlights and clips put out on social media haven’t been focused on Kirk. Not that he hasn’t been in them, because he has, but they’re usually highlighting a wide receiver catching his ball OR… Patrick Peterson picking him off. But that clearly wasn’t the case on Wednesday. From all accounts, Kirk Cousins was on fire today in the Eagan heat, especially during the 2-minute drill.

Kirk Cousins stole the show today at #Vikings OTAs. He’s had good practices the past 2 weeks but today he was dropping dimes left & right!

There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle but this team will go as far as Kirk takes us. #SKOL
— Gabe Henderson (@GabeAHenderson) June 9, 2021

Cousins also led what could have been a successful 2-minute drill at the end of practice. Down 24-22 with just over 90 seconds on the clock, the quarterback engineered a solid drive with no timeouts from his own 25-yard line.
The quarterback hit Tyler Conklin for a pair of first downs before Justin Jefferson showed some elusiveness on a big gain down the left sideline. A short completion to Ameer Abdullah put the offense in field goal range with 20 seconds left, but the potential go-ahead field goal was not attempted.
Vikings.com

The good get better

At some point during his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings, Kirk Cousins has frustrated every single fan who’s watched him play, even those who won’t admit it. Yet, the man continues to put up elite numbers in an offensive scheme that doesn’t really allow for that kind of production (just ask Stefon Diggs). Over the last handful of years, he’s been a top-6 quarterback, just by the raw numbers.

But, there’s a lot more to the game of football than the numbers that show up on paper and whether Kirk has the intangibles needed to be a Super Bowl winning QB can be argued until he wins a Super Bowl. Cousins has done some soul searching of his own over the last few months, however, apparently watching every game he’s played in since entering the league.

Clearly, he feels like he’s found something significant, as you can read from his quote.

New for Kirk Cousins: Vikings QB said he went back and watched every single game he's played in this offseason (not just 16 from '20). Has a film set up at home where he can access his entire library to create cut-ups. "I'm kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner in my career"
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) June 9, 2021

Kirk Cousins “An Open Book” for Kellen Mond

If you expected anything other than complete professionalism from Kirk Cousins toward 3rd round pick, Kellen Mond, then you still have no idea who Kirk is. When asked about Mond today, Cousins told reporters that he’ll be an open book to the rookie, who could end up replacing him eventually.

Again, this is what’s expected of Kirk Cousins. He’s not a guy who’s going to shake the apple tree. But honestly, I don’t care about how nice of a guy he is. As Minnesota Vikings fans, we want to win playoff games and play in a Super Bowl. That’s it.

You could be the biggest asshole on earth (within reason) and fans will love you if you win games. I’m sure teammates, coaches, front office and Mond himself are all happy that Kirk Cousins is such a nice guy. But for fans, this drought is much bigger than Kirk.

#Vikings QB Kirk Cousins on a Zoom call on drafting of Kellen Mond: "There was good communication through the process. Kellen's been great." He said the progress has been good.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) June 9, 2021

Kirk Cousins on helping Kellen Mond, the rookie backup: "You're an open book. You're helpful."

Cites the veterans from his past than helped him along the way, says he wants to imitate what they did for him.
— Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) June 9, 2021

Nah, I don’t care about any of that. Win playoff games and fans will like you. Get to a super bowl and fans will build you a statue. Everything else is whatever.
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) June 9, 2021