Kirk Cousins was back at the Minnesota Vikings’ facility in Eagan on Wednesday, November 11, one day after the trade that sent him from the Las Vegas Raiders back to the team he started for from 2018 to 2023. In his first news conference as a Viking since 2023, the 38-year-old quarterback said it was “certainly a unique feeling coming back into the building,” described how he found out about the deal halfway through his breakfast, and explained why a return to Kevin O’Connell’s offense made more sense to him than starting over somewhere new.
Whether Cousins starts on Sunday at Green Bay is still open. “It’s a fair question to ask. I don’t think I can give you a fair answer only because of how early in the week it is,” he said when asked if he felt ready. “So I got to get to work and I could have a better answer for you later in the week.”
“Halfway into my eggs”
Cousins opened by thanking the team he just left. “Want to say thank you to the Raiders for the opportunity they gave me this past offseason and the chance they gave me to play, and the way that they handled, with Minnesota, the last whatever it was,” he said. “Certainly it was tough to leave a building that you’ve spent some time with the guys and built a rapport, but also knew I was headed to a building that I also know a lot of guys and have a great rapport.”
He said the news came on Tuesday morning at the Raiders’ facility. “I went in to get breakfast and have my lift yesterday. I was about halfway into my eggs and my phone started vibrating and it said Klint Kubiak on it,” Cousins said. “I looked at my teammates and I said, ‘I have a guess what this might mean.’” Kubiak asked whether he was in the building and told him to come upstairs. “My heart started beating a little faster,” Cousins said. He described the conversation with Kubiak and general manager John Spytek as “really good” and said they showed “the pure class that they had been” since day one. Kubiak and Spytek’s side of that day is in our story on the Raiders’ news conference.
The Raiders, he said, put the decision largely in his hands. “Spytek and Klint were very clear, basically trying to put the ball in my court, and I said, let me talk to Kevin,” Cousins said. Asked why Minnesota appealed more than other options, he was direct: “I’m not too interested in completely starting over. There was a reason I went to Klint Kubiak this offseason.” He said a quarterback has to play “off reaction and instinct,” and “if you’re thinking, I don’t think you quite can be the player that you otherwise would be.”
“Kevin knows me”
That is why the call with O’Connell mattered. “Kevin knows me. Kevin knows what I do well. Kevin knows what I don’t do well. Kevin knows what I can handle. Kevin knows what I can’t handle,” Cousins said. “I think the fact that he knows me well, the good about me and the bad about me, I think should help us.”
O’Connell, who spoke before Cousins, said he had spent a good part of the day with him and “you feel his energy right away.” He said the familiarity with the coaching staff, the locker room and the building should make it “a little bit easier to get him acclimated,” but noted that Cousins has been running different offenses for the past couple of years. “I do think it’s still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan on Sunday looks like,” O’Connell said, “but I will say, excited about the opportunity of spending every moment we can between now and then to get him comfortable and allow him to play for us this Sunday.” He added that he wants to be fair to Cousins “and make sure he feels good about it going into Lambeau Field.”
General manager Nolan Teasley, who spoke first on Wednesday, said the trade came because the current roster had earned it. “The quarterback position is one that can, in fact, impact the entire team,” Teasley said. “And this roster, in all honesty, this roster has earned the right to explore the potential to maximize where we can take this thing.” The Vikings are 6-2 but lost 23-6 to Buffalo on Monday night with Carson Wentz starting in place of the injured Kyler Murray (hamstring), a game covered in our Bills-Vikings recap. Minnesota sent its 2027 third-round pick to Las Vegas, as listed in our deadline-day roundup.
Justin Jefferson and “the long game”
Cousins said he saw Justin Jefferson on Wednesday and does not plan to force the ball to him. “For me with Justin, it’s just play to play, play in and play out. You’re always kind of just going where your reads take you,” he said. “Kevin will always do a great job of trying to give him opportunities. He’s always done a good job of making us look smart.” He added that Jefferson “tends to make you right when you throw the ball in his direction.”
He also said it “did my heart good” to see Jefferson, Brian O’Neill, Christian Darrisaw and the coaching staff again, and told a story about safety Harrison Smith, who returned for another season with the Vikings. Cousins said he had texted Smith about it, and the two have long talked about “winning the long game.” “Guys in this league win the short game here and there and they get some attention for a short amount of time,” Cousins said. “Harrison’s a guy who’s won the long game. That’s a goal of mine in this career.”
Cousins compared his crash course in the playbook to the one T.J. Hockenson faced after the Vikings traded for the tight end in 2022. “I didn’t envy him at that time, how much he had to do and how much he had to get caught up,” he said. “I find myself in a similar role today.”
Back to Lambeau Field
If he does play Sunday, it will be at the stadium where his first Vikings stint ended. Cousins tore his Achilles at Green Bay in October 2023 and was carted off the field. “Knowing that that was where I was carted off and had thoughts of, is this my last game? Is this my last game as a Viking? To be back there wearing the purple and gold, it has meaning,” he said. “But you have to go make it mean something with the way you play.”
Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who coached Cousins in Washington, expects to see him. “He’ll be starting. I’m fairly confident of that,” LaFleur said on Wednesday, adding that he was surprised by the price: “I was surprised they didn’t get more. I was shocked what they traded him for.”
Asked whether the return feels like unfinished business, Cousins said he has felt something like that throughout his career. “I felt like there was more meat on the bone. I didn’t quite know what that needed to be, but I just felt like there was more to go get,” he said. On the bigger goal, he kept it to this week: “You can’t live January and February in November. It’s about just taking the next step, and today is about having the best Wednesday.”
He also talked about keeping his enjoyment of the game at this stage of his career. “I think I play my best when there’s a lot of joy, and I think there’s also, when there’s a little bit of edge, so you try to find that sweet spot,” Cousins said. “Comparison is the thief of joy, and there’s so much in this league that is all about comparison.”
On the lighter side, Cousins said his family’s house in Minnesota sold without ever being listed after a neighbor found a buyer, so his wife, Julie, and their sons are staying in a hotel across the street from the facility. He said Julie asked the boys what they wanted to do after he was traded. “They looked at her and they said, ‘Let’s go,’” he said. “So they’re across the street and they’re ready and excited for the next several weeks.”
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.