On Friday morning, news “broke” that the Las Vegas Raiders will be moving on from last season’s starting quarterback, Geno Smith, which has been widely expected since before the campaign even ended. But what was interesting is that The Athletic’s Dianna Russini posted on X/Twitter: “Look for Las Vegas to bring a veteran QB in free agency”. Additionally, Russini’s colleague, Ted Nguyen, threw out the idea of the Raiders signing Kirk Cousins as a mentor for expected No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza.
Nguyen’s idea has some legs. Cousins reportedly will be released by the Atlanta when the new league year officially starts next week, and he has some familiarity with the Raiders’ new head coach Klint Kubiak.
Those two spent three years together with the Minnesota Vikings, where Kubiak was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach in 2019 and 2020 before becoming the offensive coordinator in 2021. Additionally, Cousins had a good amount of success with Kubiak, making the Pro Bowl in two out of three seasons (2019, 2021) and throwing for over 4,200 yards and 33 or more touchdowns twice (2020, 2021).
So, there’s reason to believe that the 14-year veteran would at least be interested in heading to Las Vegas. But the question is, would he be willing to go into a situation where he’d be a bridge gap starter?
Cousins is leaving similar circumstances with the Atlanta Falcons, where he signed in free agency two years ago and thought the organization was committing ot him as a starter, until the Falcons used a first-round pick on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. during the same offseason.
Also, the 37-year-old who turns 38 in August has made over $320 million in his career, per Spotrac. So, nearing retirement at this stage in his career, would he be willing to take backup money and serve as just a holdover until the Raiders feel Mendoza is ready to start? If Cousins wants to continue playing in the NFL, he may not have many other options.
With the NFL’s legal tampering period about to start on Monday at 9:00 a.m. PT, we should start to get some solidified answers to the questions above.
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