Kirk Cousins has spent the better part of two decades competing at the highest level of professional football. Now, the Las Vegas Raiders quarterback wants to pass some of that competitive fire on to his children, just not through the sport that made him famous.
In a recent conversation with former NFL head coach Jon Gruden on his podcasr, Cousins revealed that he is steering his two boys toward wrestling as a way of building mental and physical toughness for whatever challenges life presents.
“I’m getting them into like wrestling. I want them to be gritty,” Cousins told Gruden. “I want my kids to be irrepressible when it comes to what life throws at them.”
Cousins, whose sons are currently six and eight years old, acknowledged that wrestling was not a part of his own upbringing, but said he sees the sport as a vehicle for developing a certain type of resilience that he believes is hard to find elsewhere. “I didn’t grow up wrestling, but I want my kids to be gritty,” he said.
Gruden, who is a father himself, could not help but poke fun at the vocabulary choice. “Don’t use those five syllable words on me,” he laughed. “You guys should know better than that. You are from Michigan State.”
Cousins’ wife Julie, who rarely makes on-camera appearances, was present during the interview and joined in on the conversation about raising their boys.
Cousins also noted, “You can’t hold him down. And I think wrestling is gonna help instill that in.”
Gruden noted that the kids are already drawn to football, as one might expect given their father’s career, and Cousins confirmed that they love following the game. “They can’t get enough,” he said.
Gruden added some perspective from his own experience raising children and offered Cousins a piece of advice that clearly resonated. “You got to enjoy every second and you got to be there when you’re there,” Gruden said. “You can’t have your mind on picking up blitzes and audibles and the pressure of playing. You got to be with those guys.”
