Kirk Cousins faces former OC Sean McVay as part of NFL’s reunion weekend

Week 2 in the NFL is all about reunions. Five different head coaches will face off against their former teams or colleagues — or both. The biggest reunion will be in Kansas City, where Andy Reid will be on the opposite sideline as his one-time quarterback and former offensive coordinator, Doug Pederson, against the team Reid coached from 1999-2012, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The veteran coach isn’t the only man slated for an awkward reunion this weekend. The second Sunday of the 2017 season will pair up traded players with the teams that moved them, free agents with the clubs who allowed them to walk away, and spurned franchises with the assistant coaches who left for greener pastures.

Here’s who else is destined for some pregame small talk on the opposing sideline.

Perhaps the most notable one will happen when Washington travels to Los Angeles to face the Rams Sunday. Kirk Cousins and Washington will see the man who charted their offense the past three seasons staring at them from the opposite sideline.

Sean McVay became one of the hottest coaching prospects after turning Cousins from backup quarterback to budding star. At just 31 years old, he’s developed some buzz around a moribund Rams franchise after wrecking the Colts 46-9 in the team’s season opener.

Cousins, at the very least, will be stoked to see the man responsible for his $23.9 million salary this fall.

While McVay’s familiarity with Washington’s offense will give him an edge, Cousins believes proper execution will overcome it.

“I think Sean would tell you and we would say that ultimately it comes down to executing and if we can run our plays very detailed and be disciplined in the way we execute, usually that can overcome familiarity,” Cousins told reporters this week.

Cousins looked like he missed McVay in Week 1. In a loss to the Eagles, he completed just 57.5 percent of his passes, with one touchdown, one pick, and two lost fumbles.

Glennon was adequate in his first start since 2014, avoiding turnovers and getting the Bears in position to upset defending NFC champion Atlanta as time wound down in Chicago. His upset bid fell short, but a potentially more meaningful game awaits when he returns to Tampa for the first time since leaving as a free agent this spring.

The lanky quarterback spent his first four seasons with the Buccaneers after being selected by the franchise in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He earned some buzz after replacing Josh Freeman as the team’s starting passer as a rookie, but went just 5-13 with the Bucs before being usurped by Winston.

Glennon isn’t acting like this is just another game, either:

Sunday will also be the Bucs’ first game of the season after their Week 1 matchup against the Dolphins was postponed due to Hurricane Irma.

Tolbert was the Panthers’ starting fullback from 2012-16, and he went to the Pro Bowl three times during his stint there. But the Panthers released Tolbert in the offseason. He then decided to sign a deal with the Buffalo Bills, now coached by former Panthers defense coordinator Sean McDermott.

Tolbert, along with McDermott, Joe Webb, and Kaelin Clay, will face their former team this Sunday in Charlotte. Earlier this week, Tolbert said the game “means a lot” to him.

“When I left there, it was not the best of terms with some of the people,” Tolbert said on The John Murphy Show. “But at the same time, I have lifelong brothers that I made there.”

Tolbert, a 10-year veteran, has been highly productive in his career, racking up 2,444 yards and 34 touchdowns. He’ll now have to block guys like Luke Kuechly — whom Tolbert called the best linebacker in the league — and Thomas Davis in this game. Buffalo is a run-first team, and Tolbert is arguably one of the best blocking fullbacks in the league.

This matchup should be a knock-down-drag-out game, and Buffalo will look to Tolbert set the tone in the run game against some of his best friends.

Cooks emerged as one of the NFL’s most consistent big-play threats in three seasons with the Saints, but the arrival of Michael Thomas made him expendable. That sent him to New England, where he went from catching passes from one future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees, to another, Tom Brady.

On Sunday, he’ll get to face the secondary he burned in practice while developing from a first-round pick into a star. Odds are he’ll find some room to fly — New Orleans allowed 341 passing yards in its season opener against the Vikings, and the Patriots are motivated after losing their first game of the seasons.

Bruce Arians earned AP Coach of the Year honors in 2012 as Indianapolis’s interim leader in the wake of Chuck Pagano’s cancer diagnosis. That success led him directly to Phoenix, where’s he’s coached the Cardinals through three good seasons and one mediocre one.

On Sunday, he’ll face the Colts for the second time as Arizona’s head coach, his first time coaching in Indianapolis since 2012. However, he won’t see his one-time quarterback, Andrew Luck, on the playing field.

Luck is currently recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and will not play for the second consecutive week. The Colts have been tight-lipped about Luck’s status, but they need him back as soon as he’s healthy. Scott Tolzien looked horrible as the starting quarterback in the Colts’ Week 1 loss to the Rams, so the Colts will turn to Jacoby Brissett in Week 2.

But Arians will at least get the opportunity to talk to Luck during pregame warmups. That’s not exciting, but it’s something to look forward to, right?