{"id":849769,"date":"2026-04-02T18:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849769\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:25:22","slug":"kirk-cousins-surpasses-tom-brady-for-stunning-nfl-milestone-after-raiders-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849769\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Cousins Surpasses Tom Brady For Stunning NFL Milestone After Raiders Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Move over, <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/tom-brady\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Brady<\/a>. There\u2019s a new big-money QB in town. <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/kirk-cousins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kirk Cousins <\/a>just cashed in with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/las-vegas-raiders\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, flipping the script and securing a bag bigger than anyone saw coming.<\/p>\n<p>Vegas is still expected to call <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/fernando-mendoza\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fernando Mendoza\u2019s <\/a>name first overall later this month. But bringing in Cousins? That\u2019s the game plan. This has \u201cbridge QB\u201d written all over it. A veteran stopgap to steady the offense, run the system, and keep the locker room locked in while the rookie learns the ropes. Not a replacement, more like a mentor with a cannon arm and playoff scars.<\/p>\n<p>However, Kirk Cousins is about to rewrite the NFL money playbook, per\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/spotrac\/status\/2039729726718095751\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"nofollow\">Spotrac on X<\/a>. Cousins is set to leapfrog Tom Brady in career earnings with a total of $341 million compared to Brady\u2019s $333M.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking Down Kirk Cousins\u2019 Raiders\u2019 Deal<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"525\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kirk-Cousins-24942814.jpg\" alt=\"Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons\" class=\"wp-image-1259562\"  \/>Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>On the field, Cousins\u2019 recent stint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/atlanta-falcons\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Atlanta Falcons <\/a>was a mixed bag: 5,229 yards, 28 TDs, 21 picks, 87.2 passer rating in 24 games. And a cool $100M paycheck for the ride.<\/p>\n<p>Now in Vegas, the contract looks massive, but don\u2019t get it twisted. It\u2019s basically a one-year flyer disguised as a blockbuster deal. The Raiders can bail after next season, void the final two years, and move on clean. No cap nightmares, no long-term baggage.<\/p>\n<p>Cousins might technically be a backup, but he\u2019s being paid like a luxury insurance policy. His base salary slots him as the second-highest-paid QB2 in the league, trailing only <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/nfl\/chiefs-lock-in-their-qb2-justin-fields-trade\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Justin Fields <\/a>with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/kansas-city-chiefs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even crazier? Vegas is only on the hook for $1.3M of his $10M base, with the Falcons eating the rest in 2026. The Raiders just secured a veteran bridge QB, a rookie mentor, and elite injury insurance\u2026 at a discount. That\u2019s a front office play-calling at its finest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Move over, Tom Brady. There\u2019s a new big-money QB in town. Kirk Cousins just cashed in with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,294,393,6,1369],"class_list":{"0":"post-849769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-kirk-cousins","14":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-tom-brady"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116336522396457899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}