Kirk Cousins Is Keeping His Underdog Mindset

Everything is different this season for Kirk Cousins. But even watching him at a practice months before the snaps become meaningful, you can tell: Everything is the same, too.

This is different

Cousins has been guaranteed a historic amount of money—$84 million over the next three years—and all that is expected of him is to play better than he's ever played and take the Vikings where they never have been.

That's all.

In 2006, Drew Brees was a five-year veteran who had started 58 NFL games and played in one Pro Bowl but was undervalued by the team that drafted him. In 2018, Cousins was a six-year veteran who had started 57 games and played in one Pro Bowl and was undervalued by the team that drafted him.

When the Vikings were considering quarterback options after finishing one win short of the Super Bowl last season, members of their front office discussed the similarities. No one says they expected Cousins to become Brees, but the potential for him to develop into something better than he has been, as Brees did, was intriguing.

Mike Shanahan, his first NFL coach, sees it. He believes we have not seen the best of Cousins, who will turn 30 in August.

"I think it's just starting for him," Shanahan says. "I think you are going to see him get better every year. That's the way he is. He has the repetitions. He has been in different types of offensive systems. He's going to help his offensive coordinator regardless of what direction he goes. He's that type of guy. Guys like him don't come around very often."

It was Shanahan who told his bosses in Washington that Cousins would beat out Robert Griffin III. And it was Shanahan who first drew a comparison between Cousins and Brees.

Of course, Brees' ascension was buoyed by an aggressive coach who knew how best to use his abilities. Trying to do for Cousins what Sean Payton did for Brees is Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.

The offense DeFilippo is installing is not your grandfather's system. Yes, there will be run-pass options, says DeFilippo, who was the quarterbacks coach of the Super Bowl champion Eagles last season.

"You will see a sprinkle of Philadelphia's offense, a sprinkle of Minnesota's offense from last year and a sprinkle of what I did last time I was a coordinator in Cleveland," he says. "At the end of the day, we are going to do what [Cousins] does best. What is that? He throws really well on the move. We can change launch points with him, whether in the pocket or outside the pocket. He's really comfortable with that. He's really comfortable resetting his feet, going from left to right or right to left across the field. He stays in perfect position to throw the football. And he can throw accurately and on time."

DeFilippo and Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski have been working on finer points with Cousins. There has been emphasis on a smoother drop, on being less bouncy and on not taking more than one hitch. They would like him to take fewer sacks. DeFilippo has emphasized making the most of unscheduled plays, as he did in Philadelphia. He's making Cousins practice 152 movements to escape and extend.

This is the same

Cousins may have it all, but that doesn't mean he has to be comfortable.

He reads a quote from a notebook that the coaches gave to the offense the other day: "To be your best, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable and embrace it as a part of your growth process."

He is as willing as ever.

"If I look back at the times when I was most uncomfortable, and the most stressed and challenged, those also were probably the times of my greatest growth and development as a person and a player," he says. "So to some degree, I never want a contract to create too much comfort or a feeling of arriving. I still want to be stretched and challenged and feel uncomfortable, because that's where I ultimately can go the farthest as a player."

It is not difficult for him to make himself uncomfortable.

"I think you have to understand I wasn't brought here to just be OK and just kind of exist," he says. "I was brought here to produce and win football games and impact the city and the organization in a really strong way."

A part of Cousins never will change—the part that couldn't contain itself early this summer while wearing a purple helmet on a practice field that didn't exist a few months ago, calling the signal, taking a snap and finishing the red-zone drill with a perfect strike for a touchdown.