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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.
Flash forward to this month, and every other potential starting opportunity — aside from the Pittsburgh Steelers — has been locked up:
The Arizona Cardinals have made it clear they’re going to ride into 2026 with Jacoby Brissett (and potentially one young addition in the draft)
The Raiders are set to take Mendoza at No. 1 overall
The Cleveland Browns are setting an open competing between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders
The Indianapolis Colts signed Daniel Jones to an extension
All those moves effectively left Cousins with one lingering option: a Steelers job that is still open, but trending toward running back last season’s quarterback room. According to two league sources who spoke with Yahoo Sports on Thursday, the Steelers and new head coach Mike McCarthy have told 2025 starter Aaron Rodgers that they would like to have him back as their quarterback next season. But they now remain in a holding pattern as Rodgers decides whether he wants to play next season.
Cousins signing in Las Vegas is now a fairly clear signal that his camp considered the Steelers off the table. While that isn’t a guarantee that Rodgers will return to Pittsburgh, it’s the strongest sign yet of a reunion. Largely because Cousins initially had the mindset that he’d wait out all of the league’s starting opportunities before making a decision on heading to a franchise as either a backup or a veteran who would be grooming a future starter.
Now that’s precisely the role he has taken in Las Vegas, where he will be tasked with doing one of two things (and likely both): stepping in and giving the Raiders a starting option for early in the 2026 season that allows Kubiak to get the rest of the offensive roster settled before inserting Mendoza into a more cohesive unit; and then mentoring and preparing Mendoza by providing him with acute knowledge about Kubiak’s scheme and coaching, while helping Mendoza to study and prepare each week once ascends to the starting job at some point in 2026.
And if Mendoza is ready to go as the starter beginning in training camp? Cousins will be in place as a valuable veteran backup in case of an emergency. For the Raiders, it’s the perfect scenario pairing together two like-minded and very similar personalities, while covering their bases to both develop a cornerstone quarterback and give him a supportive mentor in the process.
For Cousins, there’s also the added benefit of an out after the season. The Raiders hold an option in his contract structure for an additional two years for $80 million, which is very unlikely to be carried by the team after 2026. That gives Cousins the option of surveying the QB market again next offseason and either seizing on a starting opportunity, returning to Las Vegas as Mendoza’s backup on a reworked deal, or retiring.
