What If Kirk Cousins Goes Down? Meet Vikings Plan B: Trevor Siemian
EAGAN, Minn. (WCCO) -- Kirk Cousins is the man for the Minnesota Vikings.
But what if, what if for any reason he can't go? We move to the ever popular role of the back-up quarterback. And man have the Vikings used it in recent years.
WCCO's Mike Max has more on this year's version.
You committed $84 million to Kirk Cousins because you can expect him to be the guy. It makes sense, but what if he's not, or he gets injured?
You better know plan B, and his name is Trevor Siemian. Taking his snaps, learning a new system.
"Yeah I think experience certainly helps but you can never get enough reps, you can never have enough experience," Siemian said. "Every rep is so valuable, especially this time of year. You just don't get enough of them, so me and everybody else are trying to maximize our reps."
Just a reminder: If you think what is the value of a back-up quarterback? Last year at this time, the Vikings' back-up quarterback was a guy named Case Keenum.
Keenum is now in Denver, where Siemian used to be. It's where he got some precious NFL playing time.
"Obviously he's had a lot of experience. I think he's catching onto the system well. It's a completely different system for him, but he's been throwing the ball good and he's got good command of the offense so far," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said.
So he works, he studies then he works some more after practice. To learn.to be ready.
"Whatever you can do to simulate it. We've got virtual reality, which is working out really well. Just watching a bunch of tape," Siemian said. "Practices right now, and game cut-ups of the concepts we have in."
Because he's already learned in Denver, be ready.
The Vikings wrap up minicamp on Thursday, then get the next six weeks off until the start of training camp for the first time at their new Eagan facility.
The Vikings also announced they are doing away with paper tickets for the 2018 season. They will only accept electronic tickets for a number of reasons: They say the ability to communicate with their fans, and with an eye towards security. Fans will still be able to sell their tickets on secondary markets like StubHub.
