In the minutes before the 2026 NFL trade deadline, the Las Vegas Raiders swung one of the biggest deals of the day, sending Kirk Cousins back to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 third-round pick.
Surprising? Eh, maybe a little, as despite Las Vegas' initial trepidation over trading away the veteran signal caller, the Vikings' loss on Monday Night Football proved that they simply couldn't move forward with Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz as their quarterbacks and thus, general manager Nolan Teasley worked the phones and got the deal done.
What isn't surprising, however, is who will start for the Raiders now that Cousins is heading to Minnesota to take his physical, as Fernando Mendoza was always the QB1 in waiting and the NFL celebrated that with a very on-brand LinkedIn-themed post on social media.
“Fernando Mendoza is happy to share that he's started a new position as QB1 for the Raiders,” the NFL wrote.
@fernandomendoza is happy to share that he's started a new position as QB1 for the @Raiders pic.twitter.com/FCRDeqelx2
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2026
This is a developing story.