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Kirk Cousins Returns to Vikings in Trade Deadline Deal With Raiders

The Minnesota Vikings traded a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for quarterback Kirk Cousins on Tuesday, bringing the 38-year-old back to the team he left after the 2023 season, hours before the NFL trade deadline.

By admin Nov. 11, 2026 · 4:49 PM ET 2 min read

An empty football stadium lit by floodlights under a cloudy night sky.

The Minnesota Vikings traded a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for quarterback Kirk Cousins on Tuesday, bringing the 38-year-old back to the team he spent six seasons with, with a little more than an hour to spare before the 4 p.m. ET trade deadline.

The deal came less than a day after the Vikings were beaten 23-6 by the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, a game in which Minnesota’s offense failed to reach the end zone and struggled to move the ball. Carson Wentz started that game for the Vikings.

A leather football resting on the grass at a stadium at dusk.

A reunion three years in the making

Cousins signed with the Raiders in April on a one-year, $11.3 million deal to start and to mentor No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. He threw 20 touchdown passes for Las Vegas, and USA Today noted he was playing his best football since 2023, when an Achilles injury cut short what had been his presumed final season in Minnesota. He threw 171 touchdowns during his eight seasons with the Vikings.

The move also reunites Cousins with wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who spent his first four NFL seasons catching passes from Cousins, and with head coach Kevin O’Connell. ESPN analyst Chris Canty had said before the trade that Minnesota had “the best defense in the National Football League, and they have nothing to show for their work because of the ineptitude on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Vikings had moved on from J.J. McCarthy, trading him to the New York Giants for a fifth-round pick. McCarthy is 2-0 as the Giants’ starter. With Cousins back, Mendoza is in line for his first pro start in Week 10 against Seattle, according to USA Today.

A football player in a dark practice jersey and helmet throwing a ball on a field, seen from behind.

The rest of the deadline

The Jaguars were the busiest team of the deadline, adding safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Davon Godchaux to a defense that lost two starters to season-ending injuries. Jacksonville, 6-2 at the break, gave up a first- and second-round pick for Davis and a second-round pick for Bates.

The Kansas City Chiefs added wide receiver Josh Downs from the Indianapolis Colts, and the San Francisco 49ers added veteran receiver Keenan Allen, also from Indianapolis. The Colts kept running back Jonathan Taylor, who had been the subject of trade talk, while the winless Los Angeles Chargers made only one move, sending linebacker Daiyan Henley to the Denver Broncos.

A stadium crowd with raised hands cheering under bright lights at night.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, The Ringer and Yardbarker.

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