Kirk Cousins on Coronavirus: 'If I Die, I Die' [UPDATE]

Kirk Cousins appeared on Kyle Brandt's 10 Questions podcast this week. While discussing NFL safety protocols for coronavirus, Cousins revealed that he doesn't really believe that masks do anything. Brandt asked Cousins where he would fall on a scale between "masks are stupid" and "I'm not leaving my master bathroom for the next 10 years." Cousins leaned overwhelmingly towards the "masks are stupid" side of things, adding "If I die, I die."

"“I want to respect what other people’s concerns are. For me personally, just talking no one else can get the virus, what is your concern if you could get it, 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 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.”"

Here's video of the full exchange. It's a little surprising that Brandt didn't push back a little more considering he was one of the guys who was very serious about coronavirus very early.

There are just a ton of contradictions in Cousins' beliefs. He was one of the bigger names tweeting about only returning to play this year if it was safe. Maybe it's not his fault. He describes players not getting or having information and says that even people he would think would have answers for players did not. If the NFL hasn't expressly explained to their players exactly what is going on, that's a problem.

You would think players would have returned to some kind of program to teach them about coronavirus akin to their rookie orientation program. If one of the more well-known quarterbacks is still questioning the effectiveness of masks in September, that's a problem. Even if he does say he'll wear one out of respect for others.

Of course, it's also weird that Cousins has been expressing serious safety concerns for months and then just seems to think the precautions the league has in place are silly. But he'll go along with them as long as he can play football. Also, it's survival of the fittest and "If I die, I die." Cousins probably isn't the only one dealing with this, he's just one of the few who get a chance to try and explain it on a Ringer podcast. Maybe the NFL should do something about that.

UPDATE: Kirk Cousins went on NFL Network today and clarified certain aspects of his comments.