CFL star Mitchell says Vikings feared his goal to 'take Kirk's job'
The Minnesota Vikings felt threatened by Bo Levi Mitchell's desire to overtake Kirk Cousins when the Calgary Stampeders quarterback attended a tryout in December, according to the CFL star.
On the Oct. 2 edition of "The Bo Show" at SN960 The Fan, Mitchell recalled a Vikings official asking him how he could help the team win.
"I said, 'I'm gonna come in here and I'm gonna take Kirk's job,'" Mitchell recounted. "His reply to me was, 'No, we don't want you to do that. We want you to come in here and have a good quarterback room, help teach him things, help be a supporter of him, but don't cause controversy.'"
Mitchell won his second career Most Outstanding Player award in Canada before working out for the Vikings. He re-signed with Calgary after gripping the fact that he wouldn't be given a chance to compete with Cousins.
"I don't understand that thought process," he said. "All that tells me is there's a culture in that building right now that, 'Hey, your job is secure because of the money we paid you. Don't worry about anything you do or the decisions you make or anything the media says, just do what we tell you to do and you're going to be fine.'
"It's mind-blowing. I was like, 'Whoa, I'm not coming here. You don't even want a guy that's pushing him.'"
Cousins signed a fully-guaranteed contract for three years and $84 million in 2018 but hasn't come close to fulfilling expectations. He's thrown for the fewest yards of any quarterback with four starts this season - except for Mitchell Trubisky, who got injured on his third pass of Week 4.
"I would've came in and I'd have been throwing the ball deep every single play," Mitchell said. "If you put me with Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph - sorry, Dalvin Cook, but the ball is going down the field.
"You're creating a culture - don't create competition."
Thielen and Diggs publicly expressed their frustrations with the Vikings' offense after they fell 16-6 to the Chicago Bears and saw their record drop to 2-2.
With h/t to 3DownNation.com