The Minnesota Vikings will be without veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins this year after he served as the team’s starting quarterback for the past six seasons. And according to one Vikings player, his absence is a big loss to the team, particularly in the locker room.
During an appearance on the NFL Network this week, Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips made it clear that losing Kirk Cousins will leave a big void in terms of the team’s leadership.
“There’s gonna be a huge loss,” Phillips said. “Kirk Cousins as a person, as a leader, as a teammate, that’s a big void in your locker room. One of the most humble guys that I’ve ever been around. Servant leader, just a great motivator. He’s great. To ask one person to fill that void is probably not probable.
“So what we’re going to do is have a great leadership team, which we’ve already seen. There’s already guys that I’ve seen these last few seasons being on this roster — some are captains, some are not captains yet but will be in their careers — and so we’re going to pass that torch off and kind of division of labor. We’re going to all carry that load together, and maybe we can be a better football team for it. Kirk’s obviously amazing. I’ve learned a lot from him and the leadership side of thing, and that’s an area I’m trying to step up and improve my game by working on those abilities.”
It will be interesting to see what kind of leaders emerge after Cousins’ departure.
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