atlanta sports tagged interest

FLOWERY BRANCH — Kirk Cousins has been with the Atlanta Falcons for several months now, but with joining a new team comes learning new faces.

Getting to know each of his teammates is a process that Cousins has been very open about this offseason and is still working on.

While building camaraderie with his offensive teammates may come easy because of all the time the unit spends with each other, building relationships with the defense can be more of a challenge.

It’s a challenge that Cousins and company have embraced, in some basic and unique ways.

The four-time Pro Bowl QB has talked about getting to know his new teammates through simple locker room chatter and meals around the facility. But his relationship with All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III has grown recently through watching video together, an unexpected activity for two players on opposite sides of the ball.

“I’ve watched video throughout OTAs where it’s just me and Kirk in there just talking ball, what he sees, what I see,” Bates said on Wednesday. “So that relationship is something that I’m very excited about to continue to grow. … Kirk is someone that has seen it all but there’s a lot of game that he can pass along and he’s willing to do that as well.”

Bates shared that his video study sessions with Cousins mark the first time in his career that he has watched video with his quarterback.

Part of what led to the video sessions is their constant communication on the field and both players having a high level of experience and comfortability compared to earlier in their playing days.

Although Cousins said it was not his first time watching video with a defensive back, he wishes he could go back to past moments in his career to have done it more often.

Continuing to emphasize the need to further build relationships with his new teammates, Cousins said that he needs to get to know Bates even more.

“He asked to watch video together which tells you something, just the fact that he would ask,” said Cousins. “In doing so, I felt like I learned maybe more than he learned from me. We need to do more of that. That’s just the tip of the iceberg right now.”

Cousins spoke of his respect for his teammate and praised Bates' humility and overall impact on the field. Cousins even said that he plans to purchase Bates and defensive lineman Grady Jarrett’s jerseys for his children.

“I’m probably going to buy a Grady Jarrett jersey for my boys and I’m probably going to buy a Jessie Bates jersey if that gives you any idea of who I want my kids to be like.”