As Kirk Cousins prepared to board a plane bound for the Twin Cities on Tuesday afternoon, his phone lit up with a text message from Adam Thielen.
"[He] said, 'Hey, can you get in early so we can throw?' " Cousins recalled. "I said my arrival time is not going to give me any time to do that, but he wants to work. On off days, he's trying to find ways to get out here. I said, 'I don't even know what the rules are about you coming here and catching before [veterans report to training camp] on Friday.' He said, 'I think we can. I'll find a way.' "
Such are the reasons Cousins seems so comfortable only 4½ months after he signed with the Vikings. Questions about his future were put to rest with the three-year, $84 million contract he received in March, and his status as the organizational alpha dog is not in doubt after several years of uncertainty with the Redskins. At this point, at least, there's little for the 29-year-old quarterback to worry about other than bonding with players who seem as invigorated by football minutiae as he is.
"Those guys are just easy to work with," Cousins said. "They're easy to lead, too, because they are so excited about football and they love playing this game. There are people in this league who love what football brings them, but they don't really love football. We've got a lot of guys on this team who really love football, regardless of what it brings them and that's obviously fun to work with and play with."
Cousins spoke to reporters for the first time at training camp Thursday, after arriving for two days of work with the Vikings' other quarterbacks and their rookies. He said his six-week break between minicamp and training camp allowed him to do "everything I wanted to do"; he moved into his new house on the shores of Lake Michigan, and had time to revisit the areas of the Vikings' playbook he'd needed to touch again after this spring.
As the quarterback worked in two days of light practices before the Vikings' first full-team session Saturday, new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said he could see the difference between Cousins in June and Cousins in July.
"Kirk, he's a confident guy, but I can see his confidence in what we're doing, and usually that confidence is gained by your knowledge and feeling comfortable in what you're doing," DeFilippo said. "If I'm playing golf, and all of a sudden I'm trying to pitch-and-run an 8-iron and I'm not used to doing that, I mean, I need some practice at that. It's just like going into a new offense."
It helps the entire team, too, when the quarterback has no doubt about whether he's in charge, DeFilippo said.
