Who is the Leader of the Vikings Offense?

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Cousins walks out onto his vast, vast field of money.

When the Minnesota Vikings were stuck with a 1-5 record in October of 2020, former left tackle Bryant McKinnie asked on the Bleav in Vikings show, “Who is the leader of this offense?”

In the immediacy of the question, no answer was offered with clarity. The brainstorming from that question dabbled in, “Well, maybe it’s this guy or maybe it’s group leadership.” Group leadership is fine and dandy, but a single voice of authority is often sought when events turn unfavorable. 

And with a 1-5 record, everything was unfavorable about the Vikings. Thankfully, Minnesota rattled off four wins – rather unexpectedly – to ensure the season was fun again. The team ultimately fell short with a 7-9 standing and missed out on the expanded postseason. 

The offseason is here. There is still not an indisputable answer on offensive leadership. Indeed, the team employs magnificent playmakers on the roster like Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, and Irv Smith Jr., but the Vikings don’t have a bonafide Derrick Henry-like or Tom Brady-esque player to offer a reassuring shoulder in the time of turmoil. At least not one standalone man. Minnesota utilizes offensive leadership via hodgepodge. 

2021 may be the same where a conglomeration of good players serves as “the leader.” Or the squad could branch out into a “this is _______’s team” mentality. These are the suitors for that scenario.

The Conventional Hypothesis 

The Vikings have a new offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak – the team’s sixth in eight seasons. Kubiak was formally hired this week and will replace his father who ran the offense in 2020.

If you ask Klint Kubiak, Cousins is the leader. He said this on Thursday:

“Certainly he’s a main leader on our offense and we want him to be comfortable. But I know Kirk and just like any other player, they don’t want to be too comfortable. You’ve got to challenge them to get the best out of them, and he’s no different. I think that’s certainly why he’s had so much success to this point of his career, is he wants a challenge. And we’re going to be familiar in our scheme, we’re going to be familiar with the faces around the building. But it’s certainly a challenge to me and our coaching staff to define new challenges for all position groups in order to have them respond and for us to all become great and to get to where we want to get to.”

Kubiak has his man. This is the first tangible clue of the team’s offensive leadership. Of course, Kubiak is accountable for the offense’s performance, but he is explicitly fingering Cousins as the superintendent of the offense. 

It makes sense that the quarterback is the team’s leader. Yet, for the Vikings, Cousins has allowed for shared control with Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, etc. in the past. A new offensive coordinator – that has vocally endorsed Cousins as the leader – probably has it in mind to let Cousins lead.

The Perhaps More Realistic Option 

The counterpoint to this Klint-induced suggestion is this: Why hasn’t Cousins done this to date? What’s he waiting for? He has been in the league for nine seasons, so he’d better get going on this sole-proprietor-of-leadership thing if it is something he craves. 

When the team was lopsided in the win column during the pandemic season, it was Dalvin Cook’s shoulders that everybody climbed. The Vikings emerged from a bye week last year, and Cook personally bludgeoned the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin with four touchdowns en route to a stunning victory. 

Cook welcomed the job of leader when the franchise bottomed out – he is capable of being the full-time commander of the offensive enterprise again. And that’s if Cousins is not the almighty galvanizing personality that Russell Wilson or Patrick Mahomes tend to offer. Cousins delivers inspiring pregame speeches, but does that directly translate to locker room leadership all of the time?

The Wave of the Future

Justin Jefferson wasn’t supposed to be this good, this soon. The NFL scouting body politic had Jefferson pegged as the fifth-best wide receiver in the 2020 draft. They were wrong. Very wrong. 

The LSU alumnus stained the NFL rookie record books in purple – something familiar to Vikings enthusiasts dating back to 1998. In a slightly-less flamboyant manner, a young Randy Moss has been reincarnated in Minnesota, at least in terms of production. 

That typically coincides with a leader-like swagger. Jefferson will be just 22 years old in 2021, so his time as a leader is upcoming. Much of it will come with maturity – and it is on the horizon. 

Cousins, if he was a Brady-like leader, would likely be renowned for it by now. For the most part, this reputation is not linked to him. Because of that and Jefferson’s age, the offensive leader on the Vikings remains Dalvin Cook – especially when he scores 17 touchdowns per season. That gives a man credibility. Minnesota

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