At his pre-practice press conference on Wednesday, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was asked whether Kirk Cousins, the quarterback who was previously LaFleur’s responsibility in Washington, would start for the Minnesota Vikings this weekend. Cousins, a former Vikings starter, was traded back to the team on Tuesday from the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick.
Here was LaFleur’s response:
Yeah, he’ll be out there. He’ll be starting. I’m fairly confident of that.
Obviously, he’s got familiarity
with their system. Even if he didn’t, he’s a really intelligent guy, and I think he’s been playing at a high level.
I was surprised they didn’t get more for him, quite honestly. I was shocked when I saw what they traded him for. It was mind-blowing to me.
Going into the season, the Vikings’ QB1 was Kyler Murray, who is currently out with a grade 2 hamstring strain. Minnesota sent off their former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants earlier this year, pushing Carson Wentz up the lineup.
Wentz had an all-time bad game on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills, where the Vikings came away with just three points. Wentz was 8 of 25 passing for 81 yards and 2 interceptions for a passer rating of 8.9 on the game.
Meanwhile, Cousins posted a 97.1 passer rating for the Raiders in the first half of the season, going 202 of 315 for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. With that being said, Cousins is coming off his worst game of the season, as he threw three interceptions against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
