Vikings' Kirk Cousins asserts leadership, sets tone for season with impassioned speech to team

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins' 12th NFL training camp began with an idea. What if Cousins addressed the offense? Maybe after practice some day? Just to talk through some lessons a veteran could impart on a young roster. Kevin O'Connell had a different idea.

"I thought, 'No, you're going to stand up in front of our guys in our team meeting room for the better part of however long it was,'" the Vikings coach said. "You could hear a pin drop in there."

Cousins, who has 141 NFL starts (four in the playoffs), addressed the team Thursday night and gave a speech now lauded by coaches and teammates. He discussed the importance of relationships, not taking for granted a day the team spends together and finding routines — for physical and mental growth — that separate those players who make NFL rosters and those who don't.

Receiver K.J. Osborn said he's had one-on-one talks with Cousins before, but that he learned more about the quarterback's passion and "how serious he is about his craft."

"I mean, it's nothing new," center Garrett Bradbury said of Cousins' leadership. "There's not that many guys that have had the experiences he's had and can communicate it the way he does. There's something everyone in the locker room can learn from a guy like that."

O'Connell called Cousins' speech "really important" for a young Vikings roster that lost multiple veterans, including Adam Thielen and Eric Kendricks, this past offseason.

Part of Cousins' evolving routine includes the addition of a full-time bodywork coach in 2023. He has worked with Chad Cook for years over email, but Cousins said he brought Cook to Minnesota for work at his Inver Grove Heights home. He said he may eventually broach the topic of bringing Cook to the Vikings' facility, while trying to respect the boundaries of having a personal coach in a team setting. O'Connell said Saturday he's open to the idea.

"That's something we are not against," O'Connell said. "But at the same time, with anything, there's got to be some level of restriction. It can't just be free flowing access to the building, and they understand that. Once you establish a routine, we are right along there with them."

Receiver Jalen Nailor missed a third consecutive practice Saturday because of a leg injury suffered during practice last week, O'Connell said. Nailor could return as early as this week, when the Vikings begin padded practices on Monday.

Edge rusher Danielle Hunter and right tackle Brian O'Neill (Achilles) also did not practice. Second-year tackle Vederian Lowe walked off with a team trainer at the end of Saturday's session. O'Connell said the team won't put a timeline on O'Neill's return to practice.

"With a player like Brian that has played as much as he has," O'Connell said, "that time on the football side is not as important as making sure medically we've crossed every t and dotted every i."

There's no concern about a decline from ascending left tackle Christian Darrisaw at TCO Performance Center in Eagan, where the 315-pound blocker kept the lights on inside the team's weight room this spring and summer.

"He [reported] in phenomenal shape," Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. "He was in here working out late night. I think he got that from Trent Williams or something. He'd be here at 11 o'clock at night or something getting a lift in. As long as he had a spotter, we were OK with that."

Darrisaw, the 2021 first-round pick, is prepared for the team's five nighttime kickoffs this season with a workout regimen that started "usually after 9 o'clock."

"It's not nonstop," Darrisaw said, "but that's when I feel like I get my best work in during the offseasons."

• The offense and defense traded blows during the first Vikings camp practice open to fans. Each quarterback threw at least one interception — two for rookie Jaren Hall — while receiver Justin Jefferson caught two long touchdowns from Cousins over cornerbacks Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans.

• Booth returned the favor by jumping a quick in-breaking route, intercepting Cousins on a throw intended for Jefferson. Safety Lewis Cine ended the second-team offense's hurry-up drill with a diving pick in the flat off backup quarterback Nick Mullens.

• Kickers Greg Joseph and Jack Podlesny were perfect in the end-of-practice field goal drills. Joseph drilled all six attempts, while Podlesny didn't miss on three tries.