The friction between former head coach Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins was undeniable. Even going back to the last offseason when former defensive end Everson Griffen tweeted out, “ask Zimmer if he wanted Kirk,” it became obvious that there was a disconnect between player and coach. While they tried to remedy their differences and come together for weekly meetings to watch film, the relationship wasn’t tenable. It blew over when Cousins grabbed Zimmer by the neck of his hoodie in an intense celebration after a last-second win against the Detroit Lions.
It is clear to everyone that the new head coach Kevin O’Connell will need to have a much more tenable relationship with Cousins if they are both to coexist in Minnesota. They both have familiarity with one another, as O’Connell was Cousins’ quarterbacks’ coach for part of his stint in Washington.
In an appearance on NFL Network this morning, Cousins had nothing but positive things to say about his next head coach. He did admit that having a year of overlap in Washington in 2017 would prove valuable next year and that he benefited from the experience.
“With Kevin, I see a lot of the similarities that I saw with Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay,” Cousins said. “When they were hired as head coaches you knew they had great football minds, they were innovative, hard workers, good with people. The only real question was, they’re young. Do they have the experience? I think time has proven with Kyle, Matt, and Sean that they knew what they were doing and they were able to learn quickly, and being a head coach wasn’t too big for them. So I feel a similar sense with Kevin.
“He is a great football mind. He’s been around a lot of great football minds. He’s a hard worker. He was big in my development. The fact that he’s never been a head coach before, that he’s a little younger than a lot of head coaches, I think the track record with the other guys would suggest that he’ll be just fine.”
Cousins compares O’Connell to some of the best up-and-coming coaches. Cousins can draw on his time under these coaches to bring a new young innovative angle to the Vikings offense that has felt stuck in time. By bringing in O’Connell, the Vikings hoped to find another McVay-type offensive coach. And if what Cousins said is true, it looks like they have found the right man for the job.
