{"id":269535,"date":"2026-03-17T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=269535"},"modified":"2026-03-16T21:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:41:27","slug":"raiders-would-make-a-lot-of-sense-for-kirk-cousins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/03\/17\/raiders-would-make-a-lot-of-sense-for-kirk-cousins\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRaiders Would Make a Lot of Sense\u201d for Kirk Cousins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons released Kirk Cousins, which means he’s now a free agent. Where will the veteran quarterback end up? John Breech<\/a> of CBS Sports believes Cousins will sign with the Las Vegas Raiders:<\/p>\n

\u201cCousins would obviously prefer to go to a team where he might be able to start, but with those options drying up, the Raiders would make a lot of sense. For one, this would reunite him with Klint Kubiak<\/a>. The Raiders’ new head coach spent three seasons (2019-21) in Minnesota with Cousins. Kubiak was the Vikings’ QB coach for two years before being promoted to offensive coordinator, so he worked closely with Cousins in Minnesota. The familiarity there could be something that pushes Cousins toward Las Vegas. Also, if the Raiders are going to draft Mendoza, Cousins would be the perfect veteran to come in and help mentor him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A few teams would be good landing spots for Cousins, but don’t rule out the Raiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaiders Would Make a Lot of Sense\u201d for Kirk Cousins\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Looking Back at His Career<\/h3>\n

Washington selected Kirk Cousins in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. It was a surprising move, seeing that the team had already selected fellow quarterback Robert Griffin III second overall in the same draft.<\/p>\n

However, due to Griffin\u2019s injuries, Cousins eventually became Washington\u2019s full-time starter. He made his first Pro Bowl during the 2016 campaign as he passed for 4,917 yards and 25 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Cousins signed with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> on a three-year contract worth $84 million<\/a>. The Michigan State product would play six seasons with the Vikings, making the Pro Bowl three times. He tore his Achilles during his final season in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Cousins then signed a <\/span>four-year, $180 million<\/a> deal with the Falcons in 2024. During his first season in Atlanta, he passed for 3,508 yards and 18 touchdowns before being benched in favor of Michael Penix Jr<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cousins began the 2025 campaign, backing up Penix. However, he eventually became the starter after Penix went down with a season-ending injury. Cousins finished the season with eight starts. He recorded 1,721 yards and <\/span>ten touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mentor for Mendoza<\/h3>\n

No team needs a quarterback more than the Raiders. This offseason, they traded<\/a> starter Geno Smith to the New York Jets and haven’t replaced him yet.<\/p>\n

But the Raiders, of course, are expected to draft quarterback Fernando Mendoza<\/a> with the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Miami native is coming off a sensational season at Indiana. He won the Heisman Trophy and led the Hoosiers to a national championship.<\/p>\n

As Breech pointed out, Kirk Cousins would be a great mentor for Mendoza. Cousins has 14 NFL seasons under his belt. Plus, he knows Kubiak\u2019s offense and would be able to start the season before throwing Mendoza on the field.<\/p>\n

Although he’s 37 years old, Cousins is still a solid quarterback whether he’s starting or serving as a backup. He had a 373-yard, <\/span>three-touchdown game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> last season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So yes, Kirk Cousins going to Vegas does make sense.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

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An analyst predicts free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins will end up signing with the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":259570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6431,17],"tags":[33883,33710,403,7399],"class_list":["post-269535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-raiders","tag-2026-nfl-free-agency","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-las-vegas-raiders-news"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269535"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269577,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269535\/revisions\/269577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}