Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins talked with the Washington press soon after the Redskins drafted him in the fourth round on Saturday:
On if he’s surprised that the Redskins chose him, considering the team already drafted Robert Griffin III:
“I think it is a little surprising. I was trying to forecast which teams would be looking at a quarterback, and didn’t see the Redskins thinking along those lines, but Coach [Mike] Shanahan’s words to me were that he couldn’t pass me up. That he was excited to have me.”
On how much contact Kirk Cousins had with the Redskins throughout this process:
“Very little, but at the Senior Bowl I was down there all week with them. They were coaching the South team and I was on the North team. Certainly, they were around and I was able to speak with their offensive coordinator, head coach and quarterbacks coach quite a bit throughout the week. I assumed that it was during that time where they got familiar with me and liked what they saw.”
On the feeling of being drafted behind Robert Griffin III, who is projected to be the starter:
“Well, I think I’m going to take one step at a time and right now my job will be to go into rookie minicamp and pick up on the playbook and work as hard as I can going forward to make the team, and then have an impact on that team. But certainly with Robert Griffin, there’s a lot of hope in him being the future. I’m just excited to be a part of the organization and do whatever I need to do to help that team win football games.”
On how familiar Cousins is with the Redskins drafting Heath Shuler and Gus Frerotte in the same draft year:
“Yes, I’m familiar with that story. I’ve heard Mark Schlereth talk about that story on multiple occasions. Certainly different stories are different stories, and I’m going to take it one step at a time. My job is to go in now, like I said, at rookie minicamp, pick up the playbook and learn first things first. Again, in my career I’m going to work as hard as I can. It’s a lot of things that I can’t control like where I get drafted. I’m just excited to be a part of the NFL, and at the end of the day I believe that God is in control of my future and this is where he wants me at this time.”
On organizing his own Pro Day by himself:
“Yes, I felt like a lot of these teams are looking for leadership and organization and attention to detail. I felt like it’s hard to just explain to them that you have that, you have to demonstrate that. I felt like the opportunity to lead and organize my own Pro Day would be a great way to demonstrate that. I think it was received very well, and with the way it was received I think it may be a common place thing to do going forward.”
On running a pro style offense at the Senior Bowl:
“Well, being at Michigan State, we ran a very much pro style offense and some of the footwork and the handoffs and on the drops were things I had been doing for five years at Michigan State, and I was very familiar with it. I think that having to learn the new terminology was the challenge because you have a different word for the same exact play at Michigan State so you have to learn a new language and certainly with the Redskins the biggest challenge going forward will be mastering the playbook as fast as possible. Both Robert and I will be going through that so I’m sure we can help one another and quiz one another as we try to master that playbook so we can help the Redskins be as good a football team as possible.”
On what he thinks his strengths are:
“I think my strengths are certainly my accuracy, and I think my attention to detail and my leadership, I believe. There are a lot of things that are hard to measure at a Combine, and are hard to measure in the Draft process because you have to get around me for a while to see my value. I think what I bring to the table as a player is the arm talent and the accuracy, but also a strong decision maker and a strong leader.”
On if he got to know Griffin III over the Draft process:
“The first time I met him was at the Combine. That was the last time I saw him, I talked to him briefly. He was in my group of quarterbacks who worked out together and toured around together during the weekend. That was the extent of our interaction.”
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