Kirk Cousins' goal as offseason workouts start? 'Retire as a Viking'

MINNEAPOLIS - It felt a little bit like the first day of school as Minnesota Vikings’ players reported to TCO Performance Center in Eagan Monday morning to begin the team’s offseason workout plan.

The Vikings, and other NFL teams that replaced their head coaches, got a head start by a week compared to other teams across the league. For the next nine weeks, they’ll install a new offense and defense, and look for ways to get their best play-makers the ball. Monday, it started with a team meeting.

The message from Kevin O’Connell was the same as it has been since the day he was hired to replace Mike Zimmer: It’s a partnership, it’s a team and everyone in the building has a purpose. There will be plenty of collaboration and communication among coaches, players and the front office.

"Positivity, relationships, ownership. We’re all working together towards the same goal," safety Harrison Smith said. "It seems like a very positive building and something guys want to be a part of."

"These guys want this to be a partnership, everybody is in this together and everybody got a hand in it. Looking for this partnership to take us very far. Everybody being on the same page at the same time, at all times," defensive back Patrick Peterson said. "There’s no ‘I’ or ‘me’ in this building, this is ours, we. That’s what it’s all about, being a collective one unit."

KIRK COUSINS: ‘I WOULD LIKE TO RETIRE A VIKING’

One of the first big decisions for the Vikings’ new leadership, led by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in the front office, was the future of Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. Cousins was due $45 million guaranteed heading into 2022, posing questions of if they would try to restructure his contract or pursue a trade partner.

The Vikings and Cousins agreed to a one-year extension in March, just before the start of the league year. He’ll get $35 million this season, and the deal saves Minnesota about $14 million against the 2022 salary cap. Cousins spoke about the deal publicly for the first time on Monday.

So why did Cousins agree to the extension?

"The short answer is I want to be a Minnesota Viking. I wanted to help create some cap space so that we could put together the roster that you do feel really good about. It was just trying to always find win-wins. It was a way to create a win-win, hopefully that leads to a lot of wins this fall," Cousins said.

In four seasons in Minnesota, Cousins has 124 touchdown passes and 36 interceptions. But the Vikings have missed the NFC Playoffs in three out of his four seasons, and have just one playoff win. So what was Cousins thinking as he saw other quarterbacks sign mega deals, or get traded?

"My mindset was really to be a Viking. I would like to retire as a Viking, I would like to play my way into that," Cousins said. "I know I’ve got to earn the right to do that, but if I could draw it up, it would be to play well enough that you never have to wear another jersey anywhere else."

PATRICK PETERSON HAPPY TO BE BACK WITH VIKINGS

Patrick Peterson expressed interest in coming back to the Vikings for the 2022 season after signing with Minnesota in free agency last year. The Vikings reciprocated that interest, bringing him back on another one-year deal.

He’s entering his 12th NFL season, and wanted to come back to play with the veterans returning to the Vikings, and play for new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell.

"The atmosphere, the culture, everything about it. I feel like Minnesota really took me and my family in, and I feel like we have something really good going here," Peterson said. "We just needed to get leaded in a different direction."

Peterson had to wait until the final regular season game last year to get his first interception. He finished 2021 with 45 tackles, but was frustrated that opposing quarterbacks didn’t target him more.

"Last year I thought I played solid with the opportunities that I did get. It’s just hard to get in a groove when you get two targets a game," Peterson said. "Hopefully this year I get more targets."

Peterson was asked if it’s a compliment that quarterbacks aren’t going after him.

"It is, but Pro Football Focus don’t think so," Peterson said.

He’s back on a defense that now includes Danielle Hunter, Harrison Phillips, Za’Darius Smith, Eric Kendricks and Harrison Smith, to name a few. They’ve got impact players at every level of the defense.

"We’re stacked at each and every level, now we just have to go out there and prove it to ourselves," Peterson said.