Vikings land QB Kirk Cousins in blockbuster trade deadline deal with Raiders
Jacob Camenker, USA TODAYTue, November 10, 2026 at 7:39 PM UTC
The Minnesota Vikings are reuniting with a familiar face at quarterback as they look to solve the issues that have plagued them at the all-important position during their 6-2 start to the 2026 NFL season.
The Vikings are acquiring veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of the 2026 NFL trade deadline, the team announced. Minnesota will send Las Vegas a 2027 third-round pick to complete the deal.
The completion of the deal is pending Cousins passing his physical with the Vikings.
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The Vikings' acquisition of Cousins comes as their offense has struggled to produce and find an identity across the first half of the 2026 NFL season. Minnesota ranks 30th in offensive EPA per play, per the NFL's Next Gen Stats, as free-agent quarterback acquisition Kyler Murray has disappointed while also missing time due to injury.
The Cousins trade also comes less than 24 hours after the Vikings endured a disastrous offensive performance during their 23-6 Week 9 "Monday Night Football" loss to the Buffalo Bills. Carson Wentz – starting in relief of Murray, who was out with a hamstring injury – completed just 8 of 25 passes for 81 yards and two interceptions, good for a passer rating of just 8.9.
The Vikings will hope that Cousins can provide the team with much steadier play. The 38-year-old performed well across nine starts for the Raiders this season, completing 64.1% of his passes for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions while leading Las Vegas to a 4-5 record.
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Cousins, a 15-year NFL veteran, should be able to hit the ground running with the Vikings. He had a six-season stint in Minnesota from 2018 to 2023, two of which came under the tutelage of current Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell.
During his six seasons in Minnesota, Cousins led the team to a 50-37-1 regular-season record while completing 67.9% of his passes and averaging 4494.4 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and 10.6 interceptions per 17 games played.
Here's more to know about the Cousins trade and what it could mean for the Vikings.
Kirk Cousins trade details
Vikings get:
QB Kirk Cousins
Raiders get:
2027 third-round pick
While Cousins performed well for the Raiders, trading him ahead of the deadline was a sensible move. Las Vegas has Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2026 NFL Draft, waiting in the wings as the team's long-term franchise quarterback, so he will get a chance to pick up some NFL experience in the second half of the season.
Meanwhile, the Vikings paid a sizable price for Cousins, but it could prove worth it. Brian Flores has helped the team build a championship-caliber defense, and Minnesota simply needs to sport an average-to-above-average offense to complement that and turn themselves into Super Bowl contenders.
Cousins will at least give the Vikings a chance to achieve that goal, and he should prove capable of getting more out of Justin Jefferson than the Murray-Wentz duo.
Kirk Cousins trade grades
Here's how USA TODAY Sports' Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz is grading the Raiders and Vikings for the Cousins trade:
Vikings grade: A
Raiders grade: B-
His reasoning? The Vikings were desperate for a quarterback and Cousins is among the best options they could have landed.
Kirk Cousins stats
Cousins has completed 64.1% of his passes for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His 97.1 passer rating ranks 11th-best in the league entering Week 10 while his 20 touchdown passes are second behind only Joe Burrow (23).
Below is more to know about Cousins' statistical performance from the 2026 NFL season.
Comp./Att. (%): 202/315 (64.1%)
Passing yards: 2,340
Passing TDs: 20
Interceptions: 8
Yards/attempt: 7.4
Passer rating: 97.1
QBR: 62.1
PFF grade: 77.1 (13th among 36 qualified quarterbacks)
EPA per dropback: +0.07 (11th among 31 qualified passers)
Kirk Cousins contract details
Cousins is playing the 2026 NFL season on a one-year deal worth $11.3 million, per Spotrac.com. The contract is fully guaranteed and ranks 35th league-wide among quarterbacks in terms of average annual value (AAV).
Cousins' contract also includes a club option for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, but the Vikings are unlikely to exercise it. Doing so would add another $80 million in guaranteed salary to Cousins' deal, so the two parties would likely be better served by working on a mutually beneficial extension if Minnesota wants to retain the veteran signal-caller.
Kirk Cousins career earnings
Cousins has earned just over $333 million during his 15-year NFL career to date, per Spotrac.com. A majority of that has come from Minnesota, which has paid him just under $185.7 million across six-plus seasons with the team.
Cousins currently ranks fourth all-time on the NFL's career earnings list behind only Matthew Stafford ($448.3 million), Aaron Rodgers ($417.3 million) and Dak Prescott ($337.9 million).
Vikings QB depth chart
The Vikings now have four quarterbacks in their organization. Here's a look at the pecking order within the unit:
Kirk Cousins
Kyler Murray
Carson Wentz
Max Brosmer
Despite leading the Vikings to a 5-1 record across six starts, Murray threw for just 1,022 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 64.9% of his passes. He added 167 yards on 29 carries but didn't instill enough confidence for the Vikings to trust him as a starter.
Meanwhile, Wentz played the majority of three games for the Vikings, going 1-1 in two starts while completing just 48.4% of his passes for 357 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The Vikings scored a combined 15 points in his two starts.
Brosmer only played in mop-up duty behind Wentz against the Bills. The second-year quarterback completed 6 of 7 passes for 58 yards but still hasn't thrown a touchdown, despite starting two games during the 2025 NFL season.
Vikings draft picks 2027
The Vikings still have nine 2027 NFL Draft picks at their disposal even after trading for Cousins. Here's a look at their full list of draft capital, per Spotrac.com.
First-round pick
Second-round pick
Third-round pick (via Eagles)
Fifth-round pick
Fifth-round pick (via Panthers)
Fifth-round pick (via Giants)
Sixth-round pick
Sixth-round pick (via Jets)
Sixth-round pick (compensatory)
Raiders draft picks 2027
The Raiders now have eight draft picks at their disposal for 2027 after trading Cousins. Below is their full list of selections, per Spotrac.com.
First-round pick
Second-round pick
Third-round pick
Third-round pick (via Vikings)
Fourth-round pick
Fifth-round pick
Sixth-round pick
Sixth-round pick (via Chiefs)
Kirk Cousins teams played for, career timeline
As mentioned, Cousins had a six-year stint with the Vikings, but he has played for four different teams across his 15-year NFL career to date. Below is a look at the teams for which he has played at the NFL level:
Washington (2012-17)
Minnesota Vikings (2018-23)
Atlanta Falcons (2024-25)
Las Vegas Raiders (2026)
Minnesota Vikings (2026)
Cousins was initially selected by Washington in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He began his career as the backup to Robert Griffin III but eventually emerged as the team's primary starter in 2015. Cousins earned his first Pro Bowl nod in 2016 and played a couple of seasons on the franchise tag before joining the Vikings in 2018.
Cousins thrived across his six years with the Vikings, posting a 101.2 passer rating and earning three Pro Bowl nods. Minnesota was frequently a playoff contender under his leadership, but he never led the Vikings on a deep playoff run, earning just one playoff victory with the team.
Cousins left the Vikings in the 2024 offseason and joined the Falcons. He got off to a torrid start in Atlanta, leading the Falcons to a 4-2 record and throwing for 509 yards and four touchdowns in a 2024 "Thursday Night Football" game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but declined precipitously during the second half of his first season in Atlanta.
As a result, the Falcons eventually turned to 2024 first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. to lead their offense. Penix was named the starter for the 2025 season but Cousins still made eight starts for the team, compiling a 5-3 record.
Cousins was released after the season and landed with the Raiders, where he performed well for half a season. Now, he will look to continue thriving after landing back in Minnesota for the first time since 2023.
Kirk Cousins career record
Cousins has posted a 92-82-2 record across 176 regular-season starts to date. His best season as a starter came in 2022, his first season with O'Connell, when he helped lead the Vikings to a 13-4 record and a first-place finish in the NFC North.
Cousins' 92 regular-season wins are good for the seventh-most among active NFL quarterbacks.
Kirk Cousins playoff record
While Cousins has performed well in the regular season, he has never enjoyed sustained postseason success. In fact, he has just a 1-3 playoff record across three career postseason appearances as a starter.
Cousins' lone playoff victory came during the 2019 NFL playoffs against the New Orleans Saints. The Vikings won that game 26-20 in overtime, with Cousins completing 19 of 31 passes for 242 yards and a touchdown.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vikings land QB Kirk Cousins in blockbuster trade deadline deal with Raiders
Source: Sports
