Grading the Las Vegas Raiders trading Kirk Cousins to the Vikings

The Las Vegas Raiders had been insistent about wanting Kirk Cousins to remain the starting quarterback as long as the team was “in the hunt.”

But as coach Klint Kubiak said after Sunday’s road loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the math doesn’t always stay the same.

“Every day, the calculus changes,” he said. “You get new information about your team, and that goes into the decision-making moving forward.”

Even though the Raiders are technically still alive in the playoff race, Sunday was another example of just how far they have to go to become a contender.

And the math changed for the Vikings as well as their Monday night game showed how badly they needed a quarterback.

Those needs aligned and the teams made a deal to trade Cousins in exchange for a third-round pick.

Cousins was not going to be on the Raiders beyond this year and the team now also frees itself of the $10 million it had already guaranteed him for 2027.

It was really a no-brainer in the end for the Raiders, who got an entire offseason and nine games of mentorship for top pick Fernando Mendoza out of Cousins and now get additional compensation.

This is a clear win even though they might have been able to hold out for a second-rounder.

Grade: A

Contact Adam Hill at [email protected]. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.