Veteran QB Kirk Cousins signs with Las Vegas Raiders

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cousins-kirk/lAwzTD0t/"]Kirk Cousins[/a], 37, will sign a five-year, $172 million deal with the Raiders, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The contract is, in reality, a one-year, $20 million deal with the Falcons paying Cousins $8.7 million this season and the Raiders paying $1.3 million plus a fully guaranteed $10 million roster bonus. The contract includes a club option for two years at $80 million.[/p][p]Cousins had been a free agent since being released by the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/atlanta-falcons/hClIiQIR/"]Atlanta Falcons[/a] two years into his four-year, $180 million deal.[/p][p]In [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/las-vegas-raiders/Ei4Qg76E/"]Las Vegas[/a], Cousins reunites with former QB coach and OC Klint Kubiak, who'd worked with the Illinois native for three years during their time with the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/minnesota-vikings/IsfjpsbD/"]Minnesota Vikings[/a].[/p][embed guid="d4c547fd-c291-4ff9-ac30-4dcf57f934dd" url="https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/2039724239079522411?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Cousins is expected to mentor young Indiana Hoosiers QB [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mendoza-fernando/jmACrEFd/"]Fernando Mendoza[/a], who's widely expected to be drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders with the first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Kubiak, who was appointed as the Raiders' head coach in February, said during the annual league meetings that the team would have liked to add a veteran QB to the locker room.[/p][p][b]"Ideally, you don't want him to start day one. You'd love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That's in a perfect world. It doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes they have to play from day one, and it's our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player, though, if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show," [/b]said Kubiak.[/p][p]The 37-year-old Cousins is currently one of two quarterbacks on the Raiders' roster, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/o-connell-aidan/EZKdjPvg/"]Aidan O'Connell[/a] the only other signal-caller in Las Vegas after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/smith-geno/tdjItF6Q/"]Geno Smith[/a], who was the starter in 2024 and 2025, was traded to the New York Jets in March.[/p][embed guid="6ef555de-e194-42f7-854d-2c771835afab" url="https://x.com/KirkCousins8/status/2039692081795346843?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]A fourth-round pick by Washington in the 2012 NFL Draft, Cousins joined the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 and played his best football in Minneapolis, throwing for 23,265 yards and 171 touchdowns.[/p][p]In Atlanta, Cousins' time got off to a rough start after tearing his Achilles in Week 14 of the 2024 season. The veteran QB lost his starting spot to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/penix-michael/b1SleSPm/"]Michael Penix[/a] Jr., who was drafted six weeks after Cousins joined the Falcons, in 2025, during which season he went for for 1,721 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.[/p]