It\u2019s an intriguing move for the 37-year-old, who was blindsided by Atlanta drafting Michael Penix No. 8 overall in 2024, shortly after Cousins signed a $180 million contract with them. He\u2019ll now likely pair with Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, the QB the Raiders are projected to take No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/113025Jets298.jpg\")
Kirk Cousins spent just two years on the Falcons after six with Minnesota. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham told Cousins the news in late February. It wasn\u2019t a complete shock due to Atlanta restructuring his contract that reduced his 2026 base salary from $35 million to $2.1 million.<\/p>\n
He also would\u2019ve been guaranteed $67.9 million in 2027 if he was still rostered by March 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of respect for Kirk and (quarterback Michael Penix Jr.), felt like that was the right decision,\u201d Cunningham said on 92.3 The Game.<\/p>\n
Ever since Cousins left the Vikings, where he spent six years from 2018-23, his career has trended downward. He signed a four-year, $180 million deal<\/a> with the Falcons in 2024, who then proceeded to draft Penix Jr.<\/a> in the first round six weeks later.<\/p>\n Cousins famously admitted that he had no clue<\/a> Atlanta was planning to select a signal-caller.<\/p>\n In two seasons with the Falcons, Cousins played 24 games and threw 28 touchdowns to a whopping 21 interceptions. He was benched for Penix Jr.<\/a> in Week 16 of the 2024 season, and held the job in 2025 before a season-ending ACL tear<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Falcons signed Tua Tagovailoa after he was released by the Dolphins earlier this offseason \u2014 and he will now serve as Penix\u2019s compeition for snaps.<\/p>\n Cousins finished his Atlanta career with a 12-10 record in 22 starts.<\/p>\n Prior to landing in Atlanta, he made four Pro Bowls across 11 years split between the Washington Commanders and Vikings. Cousins eclipsed 4,000 passing yards seven times and tossed a career-high 35 passing touchdowns in 2020.<\/p>\n His Minnesota tenure ended on a sad note with a torn Achilles midway through the 2023 campaign.<\/p>\n In his 14-year career, Cousins has racked up 44,700 career yards \u2014 which ranks 19th all-time \u2014 and 298 passing touchdowns.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been linked to a return with the Vikings<\/a> following the news of his release, The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kirk Cousins is going to be paired with a rookie quarterback once again. The 14-year NFL veteran is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3619,7,294,393,6,89225,2592,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-849830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-fernando-mendoza","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kirk-cousins","11":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","14":"tag-nfl-free-agency","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116336668957144631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849830","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=849830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/indiana-quarterback-fernando-mendoza-looks-124844907.jpg\")
Fernando Mendoza prepares to throw a pass at Indiana\u2019s pro day on April 1, 2026. AP<\/p>\n