Harrison Phillips Has ‘A Ton Of Confidence’ In Sam Darnold
Harrison Phillips says it’s time for the future leaders on the Minnesota Vikings to get their chance to flourish.
The defensive tackle enters his third season as a Viking, and Minnesota’s first without Kirk Cousins at quarterback.
It remains to be seen whether veteran Sam Darnold or No.10 overall pick J.J McCarthy will take over as QB1. Harrison Phillips says next season will be a process of ‘passing the torch’ along to younger players.
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“There’s gonna be a huge loss,” said Harrison Phillips.
“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.”
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“I think it’s pretty easy with the culture that Kevin (O’Connell) built here in Minnesota,” he said.
“I do reflect back to when I came to the NFL with Josh Allen, to see his growth and how he stepped up with his leadership so early on. But also to see how that transition process can go very smoothly. I have a ton of confidence in Sam. … I have full confidence in him that he’s going to go out and win as many football games as he’s allowed to go win for us.”
