I know, I know. I can practically hear your eyes rolling through the computer screen right now. But I'm gonna stick to my guns here.
On his first day of Organized Team Activities with the media present, new Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins impressed me quite a bit.
It's no surprise that he's a good quarterback, he's had the stats to prove that for the past three seasons. But he stood out today, above and beyond anything I've seen in OTAs over the past six or seven seasons.
Admittedly, it's not like it's a hall of fame crop of quarterbacks that the Vikings have filed through in recent years. Names like Ponder, McNabb, Bridgewater, Bradford and Keenum have been tossed about here in Minnesota, but the presence, the skill and the confidence that Kirk Cousins showed today was different than all of those.
For starters, he completed a very high percentage of his passes in 11-on-11 drills. I didn't track every pass but compared to the rest of the crew, he was the only one moving the ball up and down the field in team drills, and that was against most of the best defense in the league.
At this point in a team's offseason programming, you'll typically see the defense ahead of the offense. Especially when there's a new offense being installed and a new quarterback under center. That wasn't the case today. Cousins was hitting his receivers, mainly Diggs and Thielen, left and right including a nearly 80-yard bomb he dropped in to Stefon Diggs right over the shoulder of the defender Xavier Rhodes.
Even the coaches were noting how surprised they were by where Cousins is in his development with a new scenario right now. Offensive coordinator John Defilippo noted that he was impressed by how far along Cousins was in the playbook given the current restrictions of the CBA and mentioned that he was surprised to see how quickly the ball pops out of Cousins' hand as he's pushing out of the pocket.
Then there's the attitude.
From Ponder to Teddy to Bradford to Keenum, the Vikings recent QB class has been filled with players I would classify as more reserved when it comes to their personality. Kirk's all business, but he's not on the quiet reserved spectrum. After completely the 80-yard pass to Diggs (noted above), Cousins was the one on the other end of the field yelling and pumping his fist in excitement. He has a swagger, he knows he belongs at this level and he's not afraid of the pressures that come with a fully guaranteed $84 million quarterback.
That's the kind of attitude that people are hoping is contagious when it comes to the Vikings offense this season.
Again, it's basically day one at the Vikings facility, but it was a good day one. Maybe that's the best way to put it.
If this is the starting point for Cousins and this team, there could be some good things around the corner!