Kirk Cousins Trade: What It Means for the Vikings, Raiders and Mendoza
Minnesota gets a QB who knows its offense for a 2027 third. Las Vegas turns to Fernando Mendoza. What changes for both teams and the NFC North.
The Kirk Cousins trade fixed one team’s problem and started another team’s future in the same afternoon. The Raiders sent Cousins back to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday, Nov. 10, deadline day, for a 2027 third-round pick, both teams announced. Minnesota gets a veteran who already knows Kevin O’Connell’s offense. Las Vegas hands the keys to Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick, starting Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
Here’s what the deal changes for both teams, and why it’s more than a nostalgia move in Minnesota.
The Kirk Cousins trade terms
| Vikings get | Raiders get |
|---|---|
| QB Kirk Cousins, 38 | 2027 third-round pick (Minnesota’s own) |
Minnesota kept the third-rounder it got from Philadelphia in the Jonathan Greenard deal, per Tom Pelissero’s report, so it is sending its own pick to Las Vegas. The deal was subject to Cousins passing a physical, PFT noted. To clear a roster spot, the Vikings released wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The money matters too. Unless the contract is reworked, Minnesota owes Cousins the rest of his $1.3 million base salary this season plus a $10 million roster bonus this spring, ESPN reported. That bonus makes 2027 a real decision, not an automatic one.
Why the Vikings needed a quarterback now
Minnesota started 6-0 and then lost two in a row, first 19-15 at Detroit and then on Monday Night Football against Buffalo. Kyler Murray, signed in the offseason, strained his hamstring against the Lions and was ruled week-to-week. Carson Wentz started against the Bills.
The bigger issue is the churn. Since Cousins tore his Achilles in 2023, O’Connell has made 14 in-season quarterback changes because of injury or performance, using nine different starters, according to the AP. The Vikings traded J.J. McCarthy, their 2024 first-round pick, to the Giants on Sept. 28 for a fifth-round pick.
Cousins brings the one thing that group lacked: years in this exact system. He started all 25 regular-season games he played for O’Connell in 2022 and 2023, per Vikings.com, and he still knows most of the starting offensive line, plus Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. He isn’t a project at 38. He threw 20 touchdown passes for the Raiders this season, second-most in the NFL at the time of the trade.
There’s also a quirky bonus. Cousins hadn’t had a bye with Las Vegas, and Minnesota already had its bye, so he could end up playing 18 regular-season games this season, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out.
Kirk Cousins still hasn’t had a bye this season, and is now joining a Vikings’ team that already had its bye.
If he suits up right away, there’s a scenario in which he plays 18 regular-season games this season. https://t.co/qDINDkMCq0
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2026
The NFC North race Cousins walks into
This is the toughest division in football right now. Chicago leads at 7-2, Minnesota is 6-2 and Green Bay is 6-3, with Detroit also in the mix. One bad month can push a 6-0 start out of the playoff field.
Cousins is expected to start Sunday at Lambeau Field, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show, per Athlon Sports. That’s where he tore his right Achilles on Oct. 29, 2023, after throwing for 274 yards and two touchdowns. Minnesota then plays at San Francisco in Week 11. O’Connell is expected to lay out the quarterback plan this week.
The pressure doesn’t stop with the quarterback. The Vikings already fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in January, and ESPN noted that a playoff miss after a 6-0 start would leave few people left to blame besides O’Connell.
What the Raiders get: the Fernando Mendoza era
For Las Vegas, the pick is nice. The quarterback opening is the point. General manager John Spytek said he hadn’t been shopping Cousins and took the deal only after Vikings GM Nolan Teasley called Tuesday morning, according to NFL.com.
Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner who led Indiana to its first national title, now starts at home against Seattle on Sunday, with Aidan O’Connell as his backup, per ESPN. His only NFL action so far came late in a Week 5 loss to New England, when he went 6-of-8 for 48 yards. Coach Klint Kubiak said Mendoza “exceeded” the team’s expectations in practice.
The schedule is not kind. Seattle, Denver and Cleveland come next before the Raiders’ Week 13 bye, and all three entered Week 10 among the league’s top 13 scoring defenses, BVM Sports noted. At 4-5, the Raiders are betting that seven-plus weeks of real snaps matter more for 2027 than a few extra wins now.
The deadline reshaped plenty of rosters. We broke down the Colts’ sell-off, the Eagles’ reset at 2-7 and why the Steelers stood pat.
Sunday tells us a lot on both ends
Cousins at Lambeau and Mendoza against the champs land on the same Sunday. If Cousins keeps the Vikings level in a three-team race and Mendoza looks steady against a top defense, both front offices can call Tuesday a win. If not, the questions get louder in Minnesota first, because the Vikings bought this trade to win now.
For a quick swipe-through of the deal, see our Kirk Cousins trade web story and 8 things to know about Fernando Mendoza’s first start.
Sources: NFL.com, ESPN (2, 3), Raiders.com, Vikings.com, Pro Football Talk, Yahoo Sports, Athlon Sports, TSN/ESPN, Yardbarker, BVM Sports, Adam Schefter
