Kirk Cousins remains the starter in Minnesota, but for the first time since he arrived in 2018, the Vikings have a potential replacement behind him.
Cousins appears unbothered by the Vikings’ third-round selection of Kellen Mond. It surely helped that the team kept the starting quarterback in the loop about its plans.
“There was good communication through the process, and Kellen’s been great, working hard and picking up our offense quickly,” Cousins said Wednesday in his first comments since Mond joined the team, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “So, it’s been a good process.”
Cousins vows to help Mond, something Rex Grossman did for him in Washington in 2012. Cousins previously has done the same for Nate Stanley and Jake Browning, though neither was going to take Cousins’ job. Mond one day could.
“You’re an open book,” Cousins said. “You’re helpful, and you’re there and make yourself available.
“It was great to be able to learn from [Grossman], and he was a big part of my early development as a football player. I really took every word he said to heart because I felt he’d been there, done that and he should know what it looked like. I hung on his every word. I’ve been there and want to certainly be that same resource whenever possible.”
Cousins’ contract runs through 2022, and he has a $45 million cap number for the last season of his deal. The Vikings then will have a decision to make about Cousins’ future, if not sooner.
Cousins’ future surely depends on what the team does as he has led the Vikings to one playoff appearance and a 1-1 postseason record in three seasons. For now, though, the Vikings are Cousins’ team.
The plan is for Mond to redshirt his rookie season. Cousins played three games with one start as a rookie backup to rookie Robert Griffin III in Washington in 2012.
“The big piece right now, and I lived it back in 2012, is just being able to take in the volume of offense that’s thrown at you,” Cousins said. “The terminology is likely new, the plays at times are likely new.”