Cousins takes high road as he preps for Redskins
MINNEAPOLIS — The coaches and players who have left the Washington Redskins have not always been complimentary of their time with a franchise that has experienced its share of dysfunction over the past two decades.
Kirk Cousins could have joined that chorus of critics. After all, the team’s disinterest in giving him a longer-term, market-rate contract left Cousins as the rare starting quarterback playing on a one-year deal for two seasons in a row before signing with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018.
That’s not his style, though. “Honestly for me, when I think of my time in Washington, I just think of the word gratitude. I’m so grateful that I was drafted by them,” Cousins said.
The fourth-round selection in 2012 out of Michigan State became a full-timer in his fourth year, after Robert Griffin III flamed out.
“They picked me when nobody else did. I was sitting around waiting for a phone call for 2½ days,” Cousins said. “I was given an opportunity to start when there weren’t many people outside of that building who thought I should.”
Cousins will face his former team for the first time Thursday night, when the surging Vikings (5-2) host the reeling Redskins (1-6). As fate would have it, the player Cousins replaced, Case Keenum, now has his old job.
After a one-year stop in
Denver, Keenum was traded to Washington. He will visit
U.S. Bank Stadium for the first time since the “Minneapolis Miracle” pass he completed to Stefon Diggs on the final play of Minnesota’s divisional round game against New Orleans after the 2017 season.
“There’s not enough time to reminisce,” Keenum said. “It’s a special time, a special play, a special group of guys, something I’ll remember forever, but not necessarily this week.”
As it is with his successor in purple, the significance of playing against his old team was mostly an afterthought for Keenum.
“I’ve played long enough to where I feel like if I keep going like I’m going I might play against my old team every week,” Keenum said.