The Las Vegas Raiders made a major splash when they signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a one-year, $20 million deal earlier this week.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cousins’ deal also includes a club option for two years at $80 million, and could ultimately be worth up to $172 million over five years. But all that’s guaranteed in the deal is the $20 million he’ll make for the upcoming season.
Kirk Cousins | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Cousins spent last season with the Atlanta Falcons as Michael Penix Jr.’s backup. But Atlanta and Cousins parted ways this offseason, two years after he had signed a four-year, $180 million contract. Atlanta instead signed former Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this offseason, who might enter a quarterback competition with Penix Jr.
Cousins will now be taking his family to Las Vegas. He and his wife, Julie, have been married since 2014 and have two boys, named Cooper and Turner.
Kirk and Julie met back in 2012 through a mutual friend. He ultimately proposed to her one year later by telling her they were taking a tour of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and then proposed to her while there.
They got married at the Gardens at Great Oaks in Roswell, Georgia, and have been together ever since. They had their first child in 2017, after which Cousins said, “I’m sure many of you who are dads and moms know that it’s a special experience. I texted the coaches afterwards and said, ‘That was a top experience of my life so far.’ So I guess that says it all,” per a 2025 article from Today.
“It’s been a great experience because Julie’s been so positive throughout it. She’s been so disciplined. It’s been a joy throughout the nine months and the actual delivery and labor was no different. She was a joy throughout it, just a reminder that I married up,” Cousins added.
Julie Cousins Shows Off New Raiders Gear After Free Agency Signing
It didn’t take the Raiders long to hook the Cousins family up with some new gear. This was shown by a post Julie made to her Instagram story on April 3 that showed her unboxing a backpack that had the Raiders’ logo.
The story was captioned, “Got some exciting mail today … can’t wait to rock our new team’s gear!!! Shout out to them for overnighting this to us 🤩”.
Kirk Cousins’ wife Julie unboxing some Raiders gear yesterday, per her Instagram story pic.twitter.com/5Ia3mZbjLu
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) April 4, 2026
It will be interesting to see what role Cousins has with the Raiders next season, given that they’re expected to take Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.