Former Vikings Quarterback Heaps Praise Onto Arch Rivals’ New Coach

Kirk Cousins is currently stuck in something resembling quarterback limbo, as both he and the Atlanta Falcons try to discern his fate in 2025.

After rookie quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. supplanted Cousins as QB1, many were skeptical that the Falcons would be willing to keep the former Minnesota Vikings quarterback; who will count for $40 million against the cap over the course of this upcoming season; on the roster as a backup.

But with no trade imminently forthcoming, that is looking like a more legitimate option with each passing day.

With Cousins no longer being the presumed starter in Atlanta, he was able to take a walk down memory lane and deliver some kind words towards his former backup QB in Minnesota, Sean Mannion, who now operates as the quarterback coach of arch rivals, the Green Bay Packers.

Kirk Cousins Sends Plaudits To Packers On Sean Mannion Move

The players overlapped in Minneapolis from 2019 – 2021, and then again in 2023, and it seems as if the now-QB coach made quite the impression on the 4 x Pro Bowler.

“I really can’t speak highly enough of Sean to you,” Cousins said to Packers On SI last week. “It would be difficult for me to fully articulate how much I believe in him, how much he helped me as a player when he was in the quarterback room with me, how much I leaned on him to just be another voice, another set of eyes, another person to go to for input.”

Interestingly, Cousins actually gives Mannion credit for helping him play some of the best ball of his career during his stint as QB2 (and 3) with the Vikings.

“And I think I played my best football around him largely because of his involvement there.” Cousins noted, “So, when it was time for his playing career to wind down, it seemed like a natural fit for him to go into coaching…Just his natural wiring made him a very, very good supporter to me in terms of the psychology side of football. He was somebody that I felt mentally I had to keep up with, rather than feeling like I was the one who was the experienced, seasoned veteran that they were bringing in people to back me up who were learning it.”

Cousins Highlights Mannion’s Intelligence As A Core Assett

Cousins emphasized a key facet of Mannion’s benefit to his own play being the former Ram’s intellectual capabilities surrounding the position – likely a big reason why Packers’ head coach, Matt LaFleur, sought him out from under the noses of a division rival.

“Sean was just so intelligent at such a high capacity that he was always going to pick things up faster than me, know the league better than me, understand coverage better than me, and so I loved that because I felt like I was going to have a guy in the room who was going to push me and I was going to be smarter after each meeting, and after each week of study I was going to be smarter having been around him”

The Packers look to be very lucky to have Mannion. Let’s see if he can aid the development of Jordan Love over the next few years, and come back to bite the fans of his former franchise.

Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com. Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics and The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas