What Raiders’ Kirk Cousins deal means for Fernando Mendoza, Aaron Rodgers and NFL QB market
Cousins signing not only sheds light on his role in Las Vegas, but also suggests where he and his camp feel the winds are blowing in Pittsburgh.
It’s not quite the last NFL quarterback domino this offseason, but it’s certainly doing a large part to set the rest of the league’s pieces in place for 2026. That’s how the Las Vegas Raiders’ five-year, $172 million deal with Kirk Cousins should be absorbed. Which is, in reality, a one-year $11.
3 million deal from the Raiders that will also protect another $8. 7 million that Cousins will get from the Atlanta Falcons this season. Sort through the bookkeeping, and what you have is this: a $20 million total payday for Cousins in 2026 that will be divided between the Raiders and Falcons, with Las Vegas being the franchise that reaps all the benefits.
Not only in the form of a veteran quarterback capable of starting at the beginning of next season, but also a solidly paid mentor who will be a deep well of knowledge and daily study buddy for expected No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. This has effectively been a deal in the works since the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis in February, when it became clear the Raiders were seeking out a potential veteran option that would give the franchise an opportunity to be patient with Mendoza’s development going into the 2026 season.
Cousins was squarely on the Las Vegas radar at the combine — with Cousins having spent the 2019-21 seasons starting for Minnesota when new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak had served as the Vikings’ QBs coach and later offensive coordinator. The only hitch? Cousins had yet to be officially released by the Falcons and he was still surveying the landscape for a potential starting job somewhere else in the league.
Continue to the original source for the full article.