Kirk Cousins has revealed the reason he left Minnesota and move to the Atlanta Falcons.
Cousins signed a $45 million a year contract and wants to retire a Falcons player.
“I think in Minnesota, it was trending over the last couple off seasons to being somewhat year-to-year,” Cousins explained.
“As we talked with Atlanta, it felt like this was a place where, if I play at the level I expect to play, that I can retire a Falcon. That was something that really excited me and that’s certainly the goal. You’ve got to earn the right to do that, but that was exciting to feel like I could get that opportunity here.”
Cousins spent six years at the Vikings and while it was a surprise to see him leave Minnesota it was not a shock.
He is familiar with new head coach Raheem Morris who was with Washington in Cousins’ first foray into the NFL.
“Raheem, I was around for two years in Washington and was just so impressed with him as our DB coach,” Cousins said of Morris. “He would walk down the hall to the quarterback meeting in OTAs. I was a rookie and didn’t know what was normal, but that wasn’t normal to me before that and wasn’t normal after.
“But for a DB coach to walk down the hall — now looking back when that room was Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, Mike McDaniel, Sean McVay, he had good reason to be walking down the hall. But I would put him right in that category.”
Cousins knows that with the price tag comes the pressure to perform and his reputation will be on the line in Atlanta.
“Quarterbacks will always be evaluated based on, not just September to December, but January and February,” Cousins said. “That’s where you want to get to because of September to December, and then once you get there you want to have meaningful wins and play meaningful games in January and February. That’s where I want to go and I believe we can go.”
He will team up with an exciting trio of ballers in wide receiver Drake London, running back Bijan Robinson and tight end Kyle Pitts.
The awesome foursome could pack a punch that could take them into the playoffs and beyond.
