Kirk Cousins to Double his Rushing Yardage in 2019

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins faces a season outside of his comfort zone under his new offensive coordinator, Kevin Stenfanski. 

Kirk Cousins played an underwhelming first season with the Vikings. As a result, Minnesota replaced OC John DeFilippo with Kevin Stefanski. 

The Vikings are using training camp to explore how they can increase their number of play-action passes. 

It’s something that Minnesota profited from last season, although they didn’t use play-action often. They used it on 21% of their plays in 2018, which is 25th in the NFL. Their DVOA on play action plays VS non-play-action plays was 33% higher, for 8th in the league.

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It would require something of a change in the way Kirk Cousins plays. He only has 502 career rushing yards. As well as that, he’s never rushed for more than 179 yards in a season. 

“I think what they’re trying to say is one, we have had success with those bootlegs and keepers in the past, so we’ve done it. It’s just, let’s maybe create more explosive (plays) off of it,” Cousins said.

“Then I do think there’s a point of emphasis that, Kirk, you have the ability to move. Why not use it a little bit more? Not for a thousand yards, but you know, 200 or 300 (yards), yeah, maybe it’s there and we’ll see if we can do that.”

Read: NFL Training Camp 2019 – Notes and Observations so Far

That’s roughly a 100% increase in his average total rushing yards. It’s something Stefanksi has every faith in Cousins to achieve.  

“I think Kirk works really hard in the ball-handling aspect of the game, and that’s in the run game and in the pass game. When he sticks that ball out there it looks exactly the same as it does on a run as a play-action pass. He’s really diligent about that and that comes from working it,” Stefanski told reporters Monday. 

“I think that’s an element from his game that allows play-action to have some success.”