Cardinals, Chiefs, 49ers Had Offseason Interest In Kirk Cousins

The Raiders knew they were going to select Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the draft in late April, but they brought in Cousins as a bridge starter a couple weeks earlier. Playing for a guaranteed $11.3MM on his deal with the Raiders, Cousins has unexpectedly guided the team to a 3-0 start. The four-time Pro Bowler completed 67.4% of attempts, threw nine touchdowns against three interceptions, and notched an excellent 107.3 passer rating in wins over the Dolphins, Chargers and Saints.

The Cousins-led Raiders will try to keep rolling on Sunday against the AFC West rival Chiefs, who are also undefeated. The Chiefs pursued Cousins as superstar starter Patrick Mahomes was rehabbing from the torn ACL he suffered in mid-December last year. Cousins could have filled in at the beginning of this season had Mahomes been unavailable, but it turns out the three-time Super Bowl champion made a lightning-quick recovery and was ready for Week 1. Days after the Falcons cut Cousins, the Chiefs made a mid-March trade with the Jets for current No. 2 QB Justin Fields.

As is the case with Kansas City, Cousins would have had to accept a backup role had he landed in San Francisco. The 49ers already have a capable second-stringer in Mac Jones, who led the club to a 5-3 record in place of injured starter Brock Purdy last year. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan has long had an affinity for Cousins, whom he worked with in Washington from 2012-13. Shanahan was Washington’s offensive coordinator during that stretch, though Cousins was stuck behind starter Robert Griffin III at the time.

Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father, revealed that the 49ers were willing to trade the second overall pick in 2017 to Washington for Cousins. That never came to fruition (the 49ers wound up moving down a spot and drafting defensive lineman Solomon Thomas), but Kyle Shanahan continued to eye Cousins nine years later.

Had Cousins signed with the 49ers, Jones presumably would have departed in a trade. The former first-rounder and ex-Patriots starter has been part of trade rumors since he began rebuilding his stock last fall, but nobody met the 49ers’ reportedly “astronomical” asking price during the offseason. That price probably would have gone down had Cousins reunited with Shanahan.

Cousins would have had a realistic chance to start in Arizona, which kept Jacoby Brissett as a stopgap QB1 after releasing now-Viking Kyler Murray in March. The Cardinals went into free agency in the market for another veteran signal-caller, though, and after negotiations with Jimmy Garoppolo fell apart, they settled for Gardner Minshew.

The Cardinals’ decision to hand Minshew $5.14MM in guaranteed money didn’t sit well with Brissett, who was owed $1.5MM in guarantees at the time despite sitting atop the depth chart. The Cardinals and Brissett engaged in a contract standoff for a few months as a result, but they found common ground on a revised deal when training camp opened in late July. It’s anyone’s guess how the Brissett situation would have played out with Cousins on the roster. It’s at least safe to say the Cardinals would not have signed Minshew had Cousins moved to the desert.

While Cousins’ free agent choice has worked out well so far, he probably isn’t going to get multiple years to start in Las Vegas. With Mendoza likely to take over by 2027 at the latest, Cousins could return to the open market in the offseason. The Raiders will have to decide on Cousins’ future in early March. On the fifth day of the league year, a two-year, fully guaranteed option worth $80MM will kick in if he is still on their roster.