On Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings shook up the NFL world by swinging a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for quarterback Kirk Cousins. The move reunites Minnesota with its longtime quarterback and opens the door for the Raiders to hand the keys to rookie number one overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza.
“With Kirk Cousins headed to Minnesota, No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza now takes over as the new QB for the #Raiders. There’s a lot of internal optimism in Vegas that he’s very much ready for this opportunity too,” reported Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports on X, formerly Twitter.
“Has been tearing it up in practice,” said one source, per Zenitz.
The Raiders signed Cousins in free agency this past offseason shortly after drafting Mendoza number one overall out of Indiana, giving the young star a seasoned veteran to learn from during his first season in the NFL.
Cousins and the Raiders got off to a hot start to this season but have cooled down significantly in recent weeks, making it clear that a playoff push was likely out of the question, and Las Vegas ultimately decided to hand the keys to Mendoza sooner rather than later.
Mendoza will have a big test in his presumed first NFL start this weekend against the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, who have one of the most feared defenses in the league. Kickoff for that game is set for Sunday at 4:05 pm ET from Las Vegas in front of what should be a raucous home crowd.