Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell offers strong endorsement of Kirk Cousins

“Kirk is our quarterback,” O’Connell said. “I’m excited about that. I’m excited about building an offense for him. I obviously have some experience with him. He’s a really good player, in my mind, for a lot of reasons. The one thing is I think he’s an elite passer. I think he throws the football at a really high level and he’s always been like that. Being a naturally accurate quarterback is something I feel is the No. 1 requirement for playing in this league. Especially with the playmakers we have, I’m excited about Kirk Cousins.”

As O’Connell mentioned, he and Cousins have a history. O’Connell was the quarterbacks coach in Washington when Cousins played there in 2017. The coach is very familiar with Cousins’ strengths, and the Vikings hired O’Connell in part because they want to get the most out of their quarterback.

Cousins has a reputation for being a good quarterback who never seems to be good enough. He threw for 4,221 yards, 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions last season, but Minnesota finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs.

New information surfaced this week about just how frustrated Zimmer was with Cousins’ play. O’Connell seems to feel a lot differently about the three-time Pro Bowler.