The new Minnesota Vikings quarterback is already making a good impression on the team’s head coach with some of his offseason activities.
Back in March at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, some of the comments from Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer seemed to indicate that he didn’t want the front office to spend a boatload of money to sign a new quarterback.
Less than two weeks later, Zimmer was seen smiling for photographers next to Kirk Cousins after the Vikings and the free-agent signal caller agreed to a three-year deal worth a whopping $84 million. Whether Minnesota’s head coach was being sincere at the Combine or not, the decision to sign Cousins is one Zimmer now has to roll with.
So far though, the head coach seems impressed by his new starting quarterback. Zimmer recently spoke to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero and talked about how Cousins’ leadership qualities have already shown up since joining the Vikings.
Minnesota Vikings
"“I think it started when he had (Stefon) Diggs and (Adam) Thielen go down to Atlanta (in April) and throw the ball. He’s been very positive and upbeat the whole time we’ve been out here. Like a lot of times, leadership, if you do your job really good, you become a leader. And he’s done it very well this spring.”"
Minnesota has invested a lot of money in Cousins and it’s clearly for more than just his talents on the field. The team is hoping his leadership in the locker room and his skills as a passer will ultimately result in a championship in the near future.
At the very least with Cousins, Minnesota will actually have some stability under center for the first time in a long time. If he begins both the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the Vikings’ Week 1 starter, he will be the first quarterback to start back-to-back season openers for Minnesota since Christian Ponder in 2013.
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Zimmer will get a closer look at Cousins when he and the rest of his Vikings teammates hit the practice field for OTAs on Tuesday at Minnesota’s TCO Performance Center.