Brian Costello

Brian Costello

NFL

Kirk Cousins’ first comments as a Viking a slap to the Jets

Todd Bowles redecorated the walls of the Jets’ training center last summer as part of his effort to change the team’s culture. He added slogans and pictures of former players all over the building.

Kirk Cousins gave him a quote Friday he should add to the motif this year.

“Ultimately the leadership of the organization is what set it apart,” Cousins said of the Vikings to Pro Football Talk.

Hmm, that’s interesting.

So, he decided to pick the Vikings over the Jets because of their leadership. Yet he never even bothered to meet with the Jets’ leadership.

He never took the time to meet Christopher Johnson, Mike Maccagnan, Todd Bowles or any of the Jets players.

You think maybe Jamal Adams might have been able to convince him the Jets have some leadership?

Cousins is entitled to make any decision he wants, but some of the comments coming from him and his agent, Mike McCartney, over the past few days have been disrespectful to the Jets and the New York/New Jersey area.

The 28-year-old quarterback said Thursday that he scouted the Minneapolis area during Super Bowl week while he was there making promotional appearances. He drove past the Vikings’ headquarters and tried to get a feel for the area.

So why not take your visit to the Jets then, instead of the Vikings, when free agency opened if you truly were considering them? One league source said Cousins was intimidated by the idea of playing in New York with the expectations and glare of the media. If that is true, the Jets dodged a bullet.

The Jets went into the pursuit of Cousins with their eyes wide open. They knew the Vikings were the favorites, but felt they could give him a compelling case to take a closer look. For one, they offered him more money. They were willing to pay him $90 million guaranteed over three years, $6 million more than what the Vikings gave him.

While the Jets can’t argue they are a better team than the Vikings at the moment, they are a team that showed it was heading in the right direction this past season with a good, young core on defense. Maccagnan entered this offseason with $90 million in salary-cap space and five picks in the top 107 of next month’s draft. Bowles and Maccagnan are under contract until 2020, so there is stability.

As for ownership, Johnson won the trust and respect of his players last year with how he handled the national anthem controversy and subsequent fallout. He has shown he can be hands-on without meddling.

Cousins’ agent did not just say it was about winning, though. He also cited how wonderful Minneapolis is, where people are “Minnesota Nice.”

“Two things I kept saying to Kirk,’’ McCartney said at Thursday’s press conference. “Money is important, contract is important, but I want you on a daily basis to jump out of bed excited to go to work, to go into a building that has a great culture and a chance to win. But at the same token at the end of the day, I want you to get excited to go home where your wife and family are flourishing and if we can find both of those I think we’ve done our job.’’

Are you kidding? Choosing Minnesota over the greatest city in the world? Choosing a place where fine cuisine is a Juicy Lucy (don’t ask) and high-end shopping is going to Target? Remember, Robert Zimmerman left Minnesota to become Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village. Do you enjoy temperatures below zero all winter, Kirk? Minnesota has 10,000 lakes. You know what comes with 10,000 lakes? About 1,000,000 mosquitoes.

Cousins chose the Mall of America over Madison Avenue. Enough said.

Yes, the Jets do train and play in New Jersey, not New York. But that is not a knock for a free agent. It gives you the positives of the suburbs for raising a family with the pluses of the city not too far away.

Cousins will be in our area this fall when the Vikings face the Jets at MetLife Stadium. Maybe the night before Cousins can tour the area and see what he missed out on. Then Jets fans can roll out the welcome mat the next day the way only they can.

It won’t be “Minnesota Nice.”