Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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On Thursday, Kirk Cousins finished up his second spring of Vikings Organized Team Activity practices.
There’s been talk and predictions around the league of how Cousins will look in Year 2 in Minnesota, and NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus expects big things from the quarterback. He recently projected an MVP from each NFC team and pegged Cousins as Minnesota’s top candidate. Hanzus wrote:
Cousins didn’t give the Vikings the lift in 2018 that they imagined when they signed him to that all-guaranteed mega-deal last March, but hold off before denouncing the acquisition as a bust.
He’s become an easy target – will that pressure motivate him or prove to be his undoing? I like the idea of Cousins … performing at a far more consistent level in 2019.
Who did Hanzus predict as MVPs for the Vikings NFC North rivals?
He continued with the quarterback theme for the Lions and Packers, saying Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers will have big showings in 2019. For the Bears, however, Hanzus went defense and highlighted Khalil Mack.
Against the Vikings last season, Mack recorded two tackles, two quarterback hits, one sack and one pass defensed. He also recovered his own forced fumble. Mack did not play in the teams’ second matchup in Week 17.
Here’s the scary thing about Khalil Mack: The All-Pro [outside] linebacker was the biggest difference-maker on a 12-4 Bears team a year ago – and he wasn’t even playing at his ceiling. A sprained ankle suffered in Week 6 caused him to sit out two games and limited him in two more. Despite that, Mack led the team with 12.5 sacks and chipped in 10 tackles for loss, second-most on the squad. Mack told the Chicago Sun-Times last week that he aspires to produce at the level of all-time greats like Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas. Smack in his prime entering his age-28 season, we might be about to see peak Mack. Scary stuff.