Gary Kubiak says Kirk Cousins is ‘in the prime of his career’

The new offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings believes the team’s starting quarterback is currently in the prime part of his career in the NFL.

Last season, Kirk Cousins helped the Minnesota Vikings reach the playoffs for the first time since he became the team’s starting quarterback in 2018. The Vikings were expecting this to actually happen during Cousins’ first season with the team, but things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Still, it felt like the Minnesota quarterback took a step in the right direction in 2019. Heading into his third season as the Vikings’ starting signal-caller, most are expecting Cousins to take his performance to an even higher level with Gary Kubiak taking over as the team’s offensive coordinator.

Minnesota essentially ran Kubiak’s offense in 2019, so Cousins won’t have to worry about learning a new scheme this offseason. This should allow the quarterback to fine-tune some of the weaknesses he has in his game and hopefully lead the Vikings to even more success in 2020.

Cousins will turn 32-years-old in August and according to Kubiak, Minnesota has a quarterback who is in the middle of a time that will probably be viewed as the best portion of his NFL career.

The Vikings offensive coordinator was recently asked about Cousins and the steps the quarterback can take this offseason to vault his performance to the next level in 2020.

"“I think he’s in the prime of his career. There’s no doubt about that. I think the better we become as a group, the better Kirk’s going to play within the system. The thing I was most impressed with Kirk from watching what I saw when I first got in here and as we went through the course of 2019 was how quick he got rid of the football. That’s something you could talk about as a coach. You can take a quarterback in your room and say, ‘in this league, you’ve gotta get rid of the ball.’ You can talk about those things, but getting a guy to do it is about him and growing and that’s what I saw. He really got rid of the football quick this year. I think as he continues to grow with that, understanding that, the better we play around him, getting open, protect, all those types of things, the better he’s going to play.”"

Another year as a starter should help Cousins in his progression as a quarterback. Combined this with another offseason of working in the same offensive system and the expectations should be high for the Minnesota quarterback in 2020.

Whether Cousins gets an extension before the start of next season or not, he’s heading into one of his final opportunities to prove that he is the type of quarterback who can lead a team to a championship.

Capturing the ultimate goal is a big reason why the Vikings brought him in back in 2018. Will Cousins’ second season running Kubiak’s offense result in Minnesota finally getting a Super Bowl win?