Kirk Cousins Sure Looked Like the Raiders' QB1 at Vegas Golden Knights Game
The Las Vegas Raiders signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a tricky contract that looked like a five-year, $172 million deal but was actually a one-year, $20 million deal, fully guaranteed.
Whatever the semantics, that is not backup quarterback money.
A few weeks later, the Raiders drafted quarterback Fernando Mendoza out of Indiana with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23. The reigning Heisman winner and national champion is expected to be the future face of the franchise, but Cousins was the face of the Raiders at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas on Tuesday night.
That’s not backup quarterback behavior.
Cousins was on hand for the Golden Knights’ Game 5 matchup with the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Mark Shunock introduced him to the crowd by confidently and enthusiastically yelling that Cousins will be “throwing touchdowns for your Las Vegas Raiders next season.” The arena erupted in cheers while Cousins cranked the rally siren.
Cousins has been in this position before, with one caveat. In March 2024, he signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons under the assumption that he was the clear-cut QB1. But the Falcons shocked everyone, including Cousins, by drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall the following month. Cousins split time with Penix Jr. over the past two seasons before the Falcons released him in March.
This time, it would appear Cousins arrived in Vegas knowing he was brought there to be, at best, a bridge quarterback and, at worst, Mendoza’s mentor. It’s also a much more seamless fit in Vegas than in Atlanta.
For one - and most significant to the Raiders’ long-term plan - Cousins and Mendoza are carbon copies in terms of demeanor and football IQ. But in terms of on-field analysis, two of Cousins’ four Pro Bowl seasons came when Klint Kubiak was his quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings from 2019 to 2021.
The Raiders hired Kubiak, most recently winning Super Bowl LX as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, in February. At the NFL annual league meetings in late March, Kubiak all but confirmed Cousins will be the Week 1 starter in September.
“Ideally, you don’t want [Mendoza] to start from Day 1,” Kubiak said. “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 1, and it’s our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.”
Cousins knows Kubiak’s scheme and can competently run it for the revamped Raiders in 2026, while also teaching Mendoza how to maximize this system as he did in Minnesota. It’s pretty perfect on paper, but the Raiders know all about best-laid plans. We’ll see whether Cousins or Mendoza can lead the franchise to its first playoff win since January 2003.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 8:50 PM.