Vikings' Cousins unfazed by pandemic: 'If I die, I die'

Kirk Cousins has an interesting strategy for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an appearance on Spotify's "10 Questions with Kyle Brandt" podcast in July, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback admitted that although he's fine wearing a mask and wants his teammates to feel safe, his personal level of concern is about ".000001" out of 10.

"I want to respect what other people's concerns are," Cousins told Brandt. "For me personally, just talking no one else can get the virus ... I would say I'm gonna go about my daily life. If I get it, I'm gonna ride it out. I'm gonna let nature do its course. Survival of the fittest kind of an approach, and just say, if it knocks me out, it knocks me out. I'm going to be OK. You know, even if I die. If I die, I die. I kind of have peace about that.

"So that's really where I fall on it. So my opinion on wearing a mask is really about being respectful to other people. It really has nothing to do with my own personal thoughts."

The interview took place prior to the start of on-field drills at training camp, as the veteran passer questioned how players would be able to practice while wearing masks.

Cousins has fully participated in Vikings camp thus far with no reported deviation from the NFL's COVID-19 protocols.

The 32-year-old clarified his comments Wednesday after being criticized.

"... What I was trying to say back then, admittedly, I probably wasn't as clear as I would have liked to have been," Cousins said, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN. "But what I wanted to say then, what I would echo again now is that while the virus does not give me a great amount of personal fear, there's still great reason for me to engage in wearing a mask and social distancing and washing my hands as frequently as I can and following protocols that have been set in place obviously to be respectful and considerate of other people, which is very important, but then also to be available for all 16 games this fall because as the protocol is set up, if a player were to test positive, they would potentially be out for a game or games.

"And so there's plenty of reasons to wear a mask, social distance, and be very vigilant to help stop the spread of the virus. That was the heart of what I was trying to say in July."

The league agreed to a handful of rules in August, including multiple rounds of testing and mask requirements, as players reported to facilities.