The Vikings begin training camp at their sparkling new headquarters in Eagan on July 24, but wide receivers Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs have already been putting in work with Kirk Cousins with hopes of being on the same page by the time the regular season starts.
Speaking this past week at a celebrity golf tournament, Thielen told NFL Network’s Willie McGinest that developing chemistry with a new quarterback isn’t going to happen overnight.
“We had to take advantage of these OTAs and minicamp to get on the same page. It takes a while,” said Thielen. “To understand what they like, don’t like, how they like routes ran, how they don’t – and to kind of have multiple quarterbacks before that do it different ways, it takes a while. But we’re excited about the progression we’ve made and we’re excited to get back to work.”
Cousins, not to mention new backup quarterback Trevor Siemian, are the fifth and sixth quarterbacks Thielen has worked with since 2015. The others are Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater, Shaun Hill and Case Keenum.
Thielen and Diggs worked out with Cousins in Atlanta between OTAs and minicamp, so they’ve already had months to begin learning each other’s tendencies.
Related: Vikings’ schedule is loaded with preseason Super Bowl favorites.
High expectations about Minnesota’s passing game with Cousins is part of the reason Minnesota is among the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
“Coach [Mike] Zimmer starts it off. He has high expectations for us individually and as a team. He knows how good we can be,” Thielen said. “Now he wants us to go to work and make sure that we’re doing the things to prepare. He knows how tough it is to win in this league and how tough it is to get to that NFC Championship Game. We gotta do the little things, kind of reboot and get back to the basics so we can be successful again this year.”
Rookies report to training camp on July 24 and the first full squad workout is Saturday, July 28.
