Kirk Cousins’ connection with his new receivers is a work in progress.
The Vikings quarterback invited Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs to Atlanta in April for a throwing session before organized team activities. They continued to get to know each other during the team’s offseason program.
“It’s a process of saying, ‘Hey, this is the way I’ve done if for six years. You’ve done it a different way for five years. Let’s try to talk about why you’ve had success, why I’ve had success. Let’s find some middle ground; let’s decide whether I’m going to learn your way, you’re going to learn my way,’” Cousins said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “That’s the process I’m talking about. Every route, every concept, really we could talk about each individual one. The best part of the whole thing is you know you have a chance when the communication is as healthy as it is.
"[Thielen is] receptive to listening; I can understand what he’s getting at. It’s the same with Stef. That’s where when I say I’m really excited about the locker room and the players I work with, it’s moments like that, where I feel really good about the communication, that they’re hearing you and you’re hearing them.”
Cousins has no firm plans to work with his receivers off site before training camp, but feeling “a little behind the eight ball,” he will stay in his playbook.
“I’m going to go back, I’ll make a list,” Cousins said. “Probably get on the phone with [offensive coordinator] coach [John] DeFilippo or [quarterbacks] coach [Kevin] Stefanski and email and just go through it all to get each question answered over the summer.”