It took courage to trade Kirk Cousins, who was the best quarterback that the Las Vegas Raiders have had in quite some time. With the Silver and Black's record sitting at 4-5, they were nowhere close to being eliminated from the playoff picture, and there was plenty of season still left to play.
But fortune favors the bold in the NFL, and John Spytek loves to, in his own stoic way, let it rip.
The plan was always for Fernando Mendoza to succeed Cousins, but for Spytek and the Raiders' front office to pull this off in the way that they did was spectacular. They had a plan, and it worked perfectly, almost better than anyone could have imagined.
Spytek has taken some heat lately, despite Las Vegas being light-years better than it was last season, when he didn't have as much control over the roster. And while it hasn't all been flawless this year, the Cousins trade proved once again that the Raiders have the right man in the general manager's chair.
Kirk Cousins trade proves Raiders' John Spytek is the right GM for the job
Let's just take a step back for a second.
Imagine telling a past Raiders fan, even from August, that the team would be 4-5 at the trade deadline, and that they would fetch a third-round pick for Cousins. You'd think that Spytek pulled off the heist of the century. And while Cousins played better than anticipated, fans should still feel quite thrilled.
Cousins is 38 years old.
Quarterbacks that age usually fetch a late Day 3 pick swap, at most, and it should be kept in mind that nobody really wanted Cousins this offseason. He signed with Las Vegas for cheap, but there was a $10 million roster bonus and an $80 million guarantee on the other side of his vet minimum deal.
Not only was it masterful to land a pick for an aging player who was not part of the future plans and, quite frankly, not as good as his stats said, but also to get a third-rounder? A Day 2 pick? That is a starting-level player, if Spytek plays his cards correctly.
And on top of that, the Raiders don't owe Cousins any of the aforementioned money; they effectively rented him for nine games at the price of roughly $650,000. That is a small price to pay for a veteran who got Las Vegas off on the right foot in this rebuild and showed Mendoza the ropes.
Mendoza got a front-row seat to one of the best professional quarterbacks of the era for over six months and watched what a master at work looks like in the Klint Kubiak system. And now it's his turn to go and show the world what Cousins taught him.
The Raiders should get a massive return on investment there.
After getting Cousins for next to nothing, to walk away with a third-round pick, an extra $10 million in salary cap space next offseason, and a more seasoned Mendoza feels like highway robbery. And that's why fans shouldn't nitpick too much about the exact return that Las Vegas got.
Why fans shouldn't worry too much about the Kirk Cousins trade return
Would a first-rounder have been tremendous? Absolutely. Would a second-rounder have been great as well? Yes. Were either of those ever on the table? No.
Could the Raiders have squeezed a bit more juice out of the Minnesota Vikings' front office and tried for the earlier of their two third-round picks in 2027? Of course. But let's not fault Spytek too much for getting a Day 2 pick out of a dirt-cheap, 38-year-old free agent.
Las Vegas feels that Mendoza can do the job at a high level, and they made it clear that they were not punting on the season with this move. So, to get anything for a veteran QB who may not have lasted the whole year in the starting lineup, especially one who was owed more money, is great business.
Yes, the Vikings seemed quite desperate, but they were scanning the market for other quarterbacks. The Raiders, according to Spytek, fielded just a few calls about Cousins, and Minnesota was the only serious one. It felt like Spytek had all the leverage, but in reality, he did not.
Given the two choices, would you rather have a third-round pick and the Mendoza era start now, or not have the third-round pick and try to deal Cousins in the offseason months after he was inevitably benched in favor of the rookie anyway?
If you play hardball too much, you run the risk of getting nothing. And Spytek was leaving with something.
For what it's worth, credible reports indicate that the Raiders' initial asking price was a second-rounder. Then they retreated to an early third-rounder. They eventually settled for the lesser of the two third-rounders.
Some may say that Spytek got bullied by Minnesota. But to me, he made the smart play. There is nothing wrong with taking a fair trade and not trying to wring too much out of the Vikings and eventually ending up with nothing to show for it.
In a way, these teams were just lucky to have each other. Only Las Vegas was in a situation to deal its starting quarterback. Only Minnesota was legitimately in the market for that level of player. In reality, there was no leverage; these teams found common ground on a deal and hammered it out.
The Ringer's Tom Pelissero reported that Spytek and Kubiak left it up to Cousins if he wanted to go back to Minnesota. Whether that's true or not, I don't think it's a big deal either way. Doing right by your players is never the wrong thing to do, and the fact that Cousins chose Minnesota says a lot.
He knew his time was coming to a close; Mendoza was hot on Cousins' tail anyway. For him to have a chance to go back and rewrite his legacy with the Vikings, in addition to having a chance to compete for a Super Bowl, was impossible for him to pass up. And Spytek probably knew that's what he'd want.
Spytek didn't shop Cousins, but he listened to offers on him.
As soon as Minnesota came calling about him, the Raiders had won. Spytek sold high on a player who was not going to be on the roster in four months, wiggled out of the nefarious parts of his contract, and barely had to pay anything for it.
What Cousins does with the Vikings doesn't really factor into this equation. What Mendoza does with the Raiders really doesn't either. This is about the process and making informed decisions, and Spytek did exactly that. And he made quite the profit on the veteran quarterback.
Talk about proving that you're the man for the job.
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