The relationship between the Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins is heading to a premature end. Last offseason, the Falcons gave Cousins a four-year, $180 million contract to be their franchise quarterback. Fourteen games later, Cousins was benched to clear the way for first-round pick Michael Penix Jr.
If Cousins didn’t know it before, he now knows that life comes at you fast in the NFL. But it also comes quickly to teams that are looking for a quarterback. The Falcons have been looking for a trade partner to dump Cousins’s contract over the past several months but received good news when the league’s salary cap went up more than anticipated for the 2025 season.
The news gives several potential suitors a leg up when considering a trade for Cousins and it puts the ball in the court of one specific team with a ton of cap space.
Las Vegas Raiders Become Top Kirk Cousins Trade Suitor After NFL Salary Cap News
The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the top suitors for Cousins based on their moves this offseason. The Raiders hired Pete Carroll as their head coach and at 73 years old, he probably doesn’t have the time or patience to mold a rookie quarterback. Las Vegas’s clock is also ticking on Maxx Crosby, who has stated he would like to play for a winner sometime before his career is up.
While Cousins wouldn’t be a long-term solution, he would be one that helps them win now. Before last season’s dud, Cousins threw for 30 or more touchdowns three times and over 4,000 yards four times and during his six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
Although he may not be what he used to at age-36, Cousins is still a solid baseline of quarterback play and gives the Raiders options moving forward.
In the short-term, Over The Cap's salary cap calculator projects the Raiders to have $72.8 million in cap space after making a trade for Cousins. That money can be used to add to a core that has Brock Bowers on offense, Crosby and Christian Wilkins on defense and upgrade some of Las Vegas’s biggest needs including wide receiver, running back, secondary and linebacker.
In the long-term, it gives the Raiders flexibility when deciding on their franchise quarterback. Las Vegas would likely keep the seventh overall pick in a trade and wouldn’t be chained to making a desperate deal to take Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward in April. The Raiders could also wait and take a flier on a second-tier quarterback such as Mississippi’s Jaxon Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe or Louisville’s Tyler Shough.
If none of those quarterbacks appeal to the Raiders, Cousins’s presence could allow them to wait until the 2026 draft which includes Texas’s Arch Manning and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava.
The Raiders and Falcons would still have to work out the parameters of a trade and Cousins’s no trade clause looms large. But perhaps the Raiders would appeal to Cousins knowing all of the resources he would have to work with in Las Vegas.
A trade is still a pipe dream, but the salary cap news gives the Falcons a new possibility.