Kirk Cousins is celebrating his 32nd birthday on Wednesday, heading into his third year playing quarterback for the Vikings. There has been a lot of buzz around the Vikings secondary and Cousins gave the unit some high praise in his virtual meeting with the media.
“I think the entire defensive backfield has played really well,” Cousins said. “They’ve had good discipline and been really sticky in covering our receivers and tight ends.”
Cameron Dantzler has received a lot of buzz throughout the first few padded practices, but Cousins listed four cornerbacks playing solid football thus far.
“I saw enough of Cam [Dantzler] and others too. Jeff [Gladney], Holton [Hill] and Mike [Hughes], there’s several guys that I think very highly of as sticky corners,” Cousins said. “I think very highly of those guys as athletes and as cover corners. And obviously they’re going to be coached well too by one of the better coaches ever to coach how to cover.”
Cousins mentioned that it can be frustrating in August seeing the success of the good secondary play he’s seen thus far, but noted it’s a good problem to have. Before the 2020 NFL Draft the Vikings’ cornerbacks room seemed to be thin. However, Cousins has liked what he’s seen out of the position throughout the first week of training camp.
With his third season in Minnesota approaching, Cousins talked about the comfortability that he has heading into the season. In past press conferences he has noted that this is something he hasn’t had the luxury of during his time in the NFL.
“There’s a greater comfort level than there was back in 2018 and that’s to be expected,” Cousins said. “The longer you’re in a place the more comfortable you are with so many parts of the environment. You’d like to think that lends itself well to playing your best football but really now that’s just talk and you have to go out and prove it.”
Cousins is coming off his best statistical season, where he threw for 3,603 yards, 26 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also won his first career playoff game in dramatic fashion against the New Orleans Saints.
The Vikings haven’t had consistency at the quarterback position in over a decade and it looks as if they’ve finally found that with Cousins.
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