One of the worst-kept secrets in the NFL is that the Las Vegas Raiders will finally land their quarterback of the future, Fernando Mendoza, with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft later this month.
While neither general manager John Spytek nor head coach Klint Kubiak has officially confirmed that plan, the writing is clearly on the wall. And yet, both have gone on the record to share that they don't necessarily want to start a rookie right away, even if they're open to that path.
That made Thursday's decision to sign Kirk Cousins, which many saw coming, a no-brainer. The four-time Pro Bowler has plenty of experience in Kubiak's system and appears prepared to take on a mentor role to help Mendoza's growth.
He made his first public comments since joining the franchise on Monday, making it clear that he has a reverence for the Raiders' history. Cousins also acknowledged that he learned plenty about the franchise's history, including 'The Autumn Wind', which he tweeted, from NFL Films.
Then, he dove into exactly why he joined this version of the Silver and Black.
Kirk Cousins reveals the reason that he joined the Las Vegas Raiders
Cousins is quite familiar with the Raiders' coaching staff. During his time with the Minnesota Vikings, he spent three years with both Klint Kubiak and Rick Dennison, and four years with Andrew Janocko. His work with Kubiak and Janocko, Las Vegas' head coach and offensive coordinator, was hands-on.
The former served as his quarterbacks coach in 2019 and 2020 before being named offensive coordinator the following year, which led to the latter stepping into the role as quarterbacks coach. In a sit-down with Amber Theoharis, Cousins discussed how those relationships led him to the Raiders.
"It starts with the coaching staff. I was really excited about being able to work with coaches I worked with before, in Klint Kubiak, Rick Dennison, (and) Andrew Janocko," Cousins explained. "I had some of my best years playing with them, and coaching is a big deal in this league. So, getting around them excited me. And I think it's a team that has a lot of young talent and that they're building something special, and I want to be a part of that."
Cousins expanded on his comments regarding the coaching staff.
"I think they have a great identity as they teach it, starting here in the spring," Cousins noted. "I think they do a good job of laying the foundation, having the run game and the pass game married together, using the play-action game well, using the keeper bootleg game well. I think they do a phenomenal job coaching the outside zone run scheme, and it just makes sense to me, and I think it fits my skill set as a quarterback. And I think we can use those banked reps that we've had together for years that can help us kind of hit the ground running here in practice this spring."
Cousins had plenty of success working with the Raiders' staff when they were all together in Minnesota. In 47 games with Kubiak, he threw for 12,089 yards, 94 touchdowns, just 26 interceptions, and a 67.6% completion rate. He also ran for 334 yards and three touchdowns on 92 carries.
Of course, the last of those seasons came back in 2021, and Cousins is hardly the same quarterback. He hasn't reached the 30-touchdown mark since that final year with Kubiak, while he has thrown for 4,000 yards just once, which was back in 2022.
Cousins was on pace to cross both thresholds in 2023; however, he suffered a torn Achilles and hasn't quite been the same player since. But thankfully, Las Vegas is not looking at the signal-caller, who will be 38 when the season kicks off, as the long-term option.
Instead, the move will be viewed as successful if he is simply able to lead the offense until Mendoza is ready, while mentoring the young quarterback. If he can turn things around in a system he is familiar with, however, that would make the decision to bring Cousins to the Raiders even sweeter.