Kirk Cousins Shares 'Goal' to Play in NFL Long Enough for Sons to 'Enjoy Being Part of It' (Exclusive)
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The Minnesota Vikings quarterback and wife Julie Cousins tell PEOPLE what a joy it is sharing a love of football with their two growing boys
Kirk Cousins/ Instagram
Kirk Cousins is sharing a glimpse at his family life.
After letting fans have a look at his life on and off the field in the recently-released Netflix docuseries Quarterback, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback, 34, and wife Julie Hampton Cousins tell PEOPLE their two sons — Turner, 4, Cooper, 5½ — are starting to enjoy the game, even if they don't understand dad's role.
"I don't think they quite understand it yet, but each year they take another step towards really playing a part of it, which has been fun for me. And so I made it a goal to play long enough before I retire that my boys could really remember it and will have enjoyed being a part of it," the 11-year NFL star tells PEOPLE.
"And I feel that in this documentary about this past season, that started to happen in some ways it hadn't happened before."
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"It does mean a great deal to me that my boys could come to training, camp, practices, and watch practice and play catch with us afterward, and come into locker room after a special win," he continues. "And they stay up late to watch the game because they're so wanting to follow it."
"They do want to watch the game now. They care about the score," Julie adds. "They want to learn who Kirk's teammates are, and that makes it even more fun for Kirk and I to teach them all about it. We look forward to more years where they can continue along with us and share that passion with us. It makes it so much more fun where we can include them."
The elementary school teacher and mom of two notes, "It would be different if they didn't care, because it's not something you can force on them. They don't have to like football. That would be okay, but they do, and that's been such a blessing."
Julie, who takes over a lot of the responsibilities at home while Kirk is focused on the season, says she "thrives in the work of supporting Kirk."
"I love hosting people for games, cooking and planning snacks and meals," she says. "I also enjoy organizing all kinds of stuff for Kirk off the field, like his bodywork, making sure we all get good sleep and that we're getting in quality time with our boys. It's a very unique job, but I'm very happy to be in it."
Fans who check out Quarterback will see a big decision the Vikings leader has made — to completely take Tuesdays off to focus on family and home life.
"Julie and I are Christians and our faith plays a major role in our life. In 2015, we heard a talk from a pastor about the importance of the Sabbath and how one of the 10 commandments is to take one day off and rest every week. And we realized we hadn't taken that seriously, and that it was time to do that," Kirk shares.
"The NFL already gives you Tuesday off every week, so we thought we wouldn't dabble with that where sometimes I'd take it off and sometimes I'd work. We felt we would take it seriously, and it's been transformational for us," he continues. "I think it's been transformational from my football career to have that kind of rest built in, and it's been transformational for my marriage and for my parenting."
Cousins notes, "Just because I take one day off doesn't mean I cut corners on the other six. I go really hard on the other six."
"I think this year, we got into more of a routing with it," Julie points out. "Because of our boys' ages and schedules, it was a little easier. We went for a walk every Tuesday and that was really fun. We'd do a loop around our neighborhood and it was just our time to talk and catch up."
Julie notes that keeping up with the their sons leaves the couple "pretty much exhausted at the end of the day."
"Our boys are so fun, so active and full of life, but they're at the age where they still require attention constantly," she says. "They can't really be alone for any amount of time really, because you worry what they would get into or if they would hurt each other. So we're kind of still in that stage where we kind of feel like we're facilitating and monitoring them all day long."
"But at the same time, they are so fun and they say the cutest things, and we try to write those down," Julie continues. "They say the days are long and the years, they're short. We already looked back at photos from a year ago and say, 'Aww, remember that?' So we don't want to wish these long days away."
The family is now shifting back into football mode as Kirk looks ahead to training camp, which is a family affair that Julie calls "one of my favorite parts of NFL life."
"Doing life with our teammates and our coaches and trying to accomplish a goal together is just so fun," Julie says. "The way that the Vikings include the families is something that I really appreciate. The owners of the team do not have to spend the money for us the way that they do. They spoil us with amenities like childcare during games, and food during games. For the families, they have an amazing spread of food and air conditioning every single day of training camp."
"And from day one of going to the Vikings, I felt like I was a part of it even though I'm not a player," the mom of two admits. "I feel very included and welcomed and loved and I think everybody would say the same thing from the team, and that's something that's priceless."
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