Viktor
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
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According to Thielen, “a long time.”
“There’s so many different situations, there’s so many different things that come up throughout practices, games and all that, that you really have to be on the same page as far as the leverage that DBs are giving you, how they play a certain route and what you’re going to do as a receiver,” Thielen said. “It usually takes a couple, I guess, incomplete passes to really get on the same page. You’re always still working on it, but it’s definitely better to be in a second year with a quarterback than the first year, obviously.”
Thielen now has that luxury of prepping for year two with Cousins, who signed with Minnesota in March 2018 as a free agent.
Over that time, Cousins has gotten a chance to figure out what types of receivers are in the Vikings arsenal, and he continues to learn about the fresh faces on the roster. Thielen emphasized the importance of the quarterback “understanding what we’re really good at.”
“What each [receiver’s] attributes are. Is he a jump-ball guy? Is he a guy that has body control and you can kind of put in back-shoulder balls? And things like that,” Thielen explained. “I think it’s more of him figuring out who his players are and who are the guys he has to throw certain balls to.”
As Thielen looks ahead to the Vikings final three training camp practices and three remaining preseason games, his focus is less on a specific goal and more on maintaining a consistent work ethic.
“[We are just] trying to be efficient and do our jobs to the best of our ability,” Thielen said. “I don’t think there’s anything specifically that we want to accomplish other than doing our jobs. And I think that’s kind of been the motto, the mindset throughout this whole training camp. ‘Do your job, go out there and play fast, and let everything else kind of play itself out.’