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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – DECEMBER 31: Injured quarterback Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings is seen on the sideline prior to a game against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 31, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Quarterback Kirk Cousins<\/a> has been granted a fresh start with the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> after being blindsided by the team with the draft selection of Washington QB Michael Penix<\/a> in the first round.<\/p>\n Cousins said he felt \u201ca little bit misled\u201d<\/a> when the Falcons drafted Penix, saying, \u201cCertainly, if I had the information around free agency, it certainly would\u2019ve affected my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, he has clarity on his situation. The Raiders won\u2019t hide anything behind his back, and he knows the team is gearing up to draft Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick.<\/p>\n \u201cCousins, 37, will join a Raiders team that is widely expected to select former Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the NFL draft later this month,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Ryan McFadden wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n Now, Cousins has officially signed his contract and broke his silence with a message to Raiders Nation.<\/a><\/p>\n Raiders QB Kirk Cousins Breaks Silence After Split From Falcons<\/p>\n \u201cThrilled to be here,\u201d Kirk Cousins said with a smile on his face.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such an iconic logo, iconic jerseys, so to get to be a part of it is a real privilege to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Cousins is set to give the Raiders leadership and proven experience at the helm, while Mendoza learns and grows on the sideline.<\/p>\n He also shared his reasoning on why he chose the Raiders over several other teams, which, according to NFL insider Dianna Russini,<\/a> included the Arizona Cardinals,<\/a> Green Bay Packers,<\/a> and Los Angeles Rams.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think it starts with the coaching staff. I was really excited about being able to work with coaches I worked before. Klint Kubiak, Rick Dennison, Andrew Janocko. I had some of my best years playing with them, and coaching is a big deal in this league. So\u00a0 getting around them excited me. And I think it\u2019s a team that has a lot of young talent and that they\u2019re building something special and I want to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Cousins Shared His Thoughts on Klint Kubiak<\/p>\n A big reason why Kirk Cousins signed was Kubiak, who he credits for his long-standing career in the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a big reason why I\u2019m sitting in this chair and I\u2019m now a Raider is because of Klint Kubiak. I can talk about him all I want, but my actions really show what I think of him by being here. Great football mind, extremely hardworking. There\u2019s a humility there that I deeply respect. He\u2019s a great question asker. He wants to do what the quarterback\u2019s comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s going to be an exciting year for the Raiders, and the hope is that Cousins could help stabilize the quarterback position while mentoring Mendoza until it\u2019s his time to shine.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s more on Cousins<\/a> via the Raiders website.<\/p>\n \u201cCousins enters his 15th season in the NFL and joins the Raiders after spending the past two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> (2024-25). He originally entered the league as a fourth-round pick by Washington in the 2012 draft and spent six years with the club (2012-17) before signing with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> for six seasons (2018-23).<\/p>\n A four-time Pro Bowl selection (2016, 2019, 2021-22), Cousins has appeared in 174 games with 167 starts and completed 3,934-of-5,899 passes for 44,700 yards with 298 touchdowns, 131 interceptions, and a 96.8 passer rating over his career. His 44,700 passing yards currently rank 18th-most in NFL history and his 298 touchdown passes rank 14th-most in NFL history.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Raiders\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – DECEMBER 31: Injured quarterback Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings is seen on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-858096","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-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116361373061849872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858096","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=858096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}