Raiders sign veteran QB Kirk Cousins ahead of drafting presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza
Kirk Cousins | CBS Sports
The Las Vegas Raiders made a move at the quarterback position. The Raiders are signing veteran Kirk Cousins to a contract, CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones confirmed on Thursday.
Cousins will presumably mentor likely No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, and could even start ahead early in the season if the Raiders decide to let their rookie get his sea legs under him before throwing him into the fire. New head coach Klint Kubiak — who worked with Cousins for three seasons in Minnesota — said recently that he prefers to let rookie quarterbacks sit before taking over under center.
“Ideally, you don’t want him to start from Day 1,” Kubiak said, via NFL Media. “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 would qualify as a mature adult whom Mendoza could study. Cousins has been in the league for 14 years and worked as a starter for 10 of them. Cousins himself began his career as the backup to Robert Griffin III in Washington before working his way into the starting lineup, where he stayed for three years before signing a free-agent deal with the Vikings.
He lasted six years in Minnesota before tearing his Achilles during his final season, then signed a huge contract with the Falcons before struggling through his first season and getting benched down the stretch in favor of Michael Penix Jr. He backed up Penix last season before being elevated into the starting lineup in the wake of the latter’s knee injury. He completed 61.7% of his passes at 6.4 yards per attempt, with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions across his 10 games and eight starts.
Now, he gets a chance to work with another young quarterback, potentially as both a starter and a backup, depending on how the Raiders decide to play things with the No. 1 overall pick.
