Kirk Cousins positive for COVID, out vs Raiders

On Thursday, the Minnesota Vikings sent quarterback Kirk Cousins home from the team’s facility with an illness that may or may not have been COVID. On Friday, they gave us a definitive answer.

Cousins has, indeed, tested positive for COVID, meaning that he will have to isolate for five days per NFL rules and be out for Sunday’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.

This is Cousins’ second bout with COVID, with the first one coming just before the team’s Week 17 matchup against the Green Bay Packers last season. The Vikings wound up losing that game, ending their postseason hopes.

Cousins, who has famously (or infamously, depending on one’s perspective) not been vaccinated, will stay home this weekend. (I don’t know whether or not he wound up getting the vaccine after all.) That means that Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond will split the snaps at quarterback for the Vikings on Sunday in Las Vegas. It’s quite likely that Cousins wouldn’t have played on Sunday anyway, but now he’s definitely out.

So, there’s your update on Kirk Cousins, folks. He’s got COVID for the second time, meaning that he’s going to be out for this weekend’s preseason opener.