After agreeing to a very lucrative contract a week ago, Kirk Cousins is set to be the new starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
Some still question why the Minnesota Vikings felt it necessary to give $84 million to a quarterback who only has one playoff start in his NFL career.
But the Vikings bringing in Kirk Cousins to be their starting quarterback is not as much about his past as it is about what he can accomplish in the future.
Cousins has shown in his career that he has the tools to be among the best signal callers in the entire NFL. And with Minnesota, he will be surrounded by arguably the most talent on an offense than he has ever had before.
Pairing Cousins with the players in their offense is just one of the many reasons the Vikings are happy to have him as their quarterback for the next few years. What are some of the other reasons Minnesota and their fans should be excited about when it comes to their brand new starting signal caller?
Prepares like no other
Cousins’ preparation skills were already on full display during his introductory press conference with the Vikings last week. Especially when he called on longtime Minnesota reporter Sid Hartman by his full name.
Despite just getting to the Twin Cities, Cousins is already acting like Hartman has been covering him for years.
But the quarterback knowing who Hartman is should not surprise anyone who has followed Cousins during his career. During his time with the Washington Redskins, the quarterback hung photos of the local reporters in his locker so that he could remember their names when they came over to interview him.
Cousins’ preparation methods also translate to the football field as well.
With the Redskins, the quarterback actually had his own small office so that he could watch film and take notes whenever needed. Notes that dated back as far as his days at Michigan State.
If Cousins is not sleeping, practicing, or playing in a game there’s a more than likely chance that he’s watching film. He even found time to watch game tape at the hospital during some of the slower periods of his wife’s recent labor.
He’s just a really good dude
Good luck finding a criminal record for Cousins, because it doesn’t exist. The craziest thing the quarterback has ever done is probably take part in a Reddit AMA (which he then sent a hand-written letter thanking the site for asking him to participate in the event).
During the offseason, he and his wife live at both of their parents’ households to save money. Despite earning more than $45 million in his NFL career, Cousins is still pretty frugal.
After famously shouting “You Like That” after a game in 2015, the quarterback quickly trademarked the phrase to use it on merchandise. However, all of the profits from any “You Like That” merchandise goes directly to the International Justice Mission.
He loves reading books and he has been known to spend multiple hours at a Barnes & Noble on numerous occasions. Sometimes he’ll even write small reports on the books he has read and save the notes as references for the future.
Off the field is not one place where the Vikings will have to worry about Cousins in 2018.
The guy can score with his legs too
As is the case with most who play the position, the majority of the focus in normally on a quarterback’s arm. While Cousins is very talented when it comes to throwing the ball, he has shown in the past that he can scramble at a successful level as well.
In his past three seasons with the Redskins, the new Vikings quarterback ran for a total of 13 touchdowns. Now, 77 percent of these scores have come on rushes of 10 yards or less, but it is still another aspect of Cousins’ game that Minnesota can use to their advantage.
The Vikings’ offense had some success with planned quarterback draws for Case Keenum last season when they were inside the red-zone. So it should be expected that Minnesota will continue to call similar plays when they get close to the end zone with Cousins under center in 2018.
He has one hell of an arm
Likely the main reason why the Vikings were willing to give Cousins so much money has to do with how well he can throw the ball.
In each of the last three years, Minnesota’s new quarterback has thrown for at least 4,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. Not since Brett Favre in 2009 has a Vikings signal caller put up those kind of numbers in a single season.
In his three years as a starter for the Redskins, Cousins has proven time and time again that he can throw an accurate deep ball when asked.
Need him to toss a beautiful fade to the corner of the end zone? He can do that too.
Cousins has shown the ability to laser the ball in between tight spaces when needed as well.
Combine these abilities with the weapons he’s going to have in Minnesota (Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, Kyle Rudolph, Stefon Diggs) and Cousins could possibly be in for a career-year in 2018.
Sure he still has some areas of his game to improve on, but Minnesota is going to be able to do a lot with him as their quarterback next season.
Next: 5 current Vikings that could be gone by next season
One of the main purposes of the Vikings signing Cousins this year was to move the team one step closer to capturing the franchise’s first ever Super Bowl win. If the quarterback is able to deliver a championship to the Twin Cities, absolutely no one is going to care how much money the team will be paying him.