Last season left the Las Vegas Raiders staring at the same old problem under center.
The trade for Geno Smith never delivered, and after one year the team had already moved on. For a franchise that has been searching for stability at quarterback since Derek Carr left, the uncertainty only deepened. Then the college football season gave Raider Nation a new name to watch every Saturday: Fernando Mendoza, the Las Vegas native who looked like the next long-term answer.
But there was another layer to the plan. Minority owner Tom Brady had already spoken about the danger of playing quarterbacks before they’re ready and damaging their development, and that opened the door for the Raiders to bring in a veteran who could hold the job while Mendoza learned. That veteran turned out to be Kirk Cousins.
Cousins’ time in Atlanta had gone sideways. The Falcons gave him a huge contract loaded with guaranteed money, but he never got them to the playoffs and battled turnover problems.
Injuries limited him for much of his run there, and Atlanta eventually turned to Michael Penix Jr. when its postseason hopes were hanging by a thread. Cousins stepped back in when Penix got hurt in 2025, but even that wasn’t enough to push the Falcons into the playoffs.
Atlanta moved on, and a month later the Raiders took the chance. It looked like a classic low-risk pickup for a quarterback whose best years might already be behind him.
Instead, Cousins got healthy and started looking like much more than a stopgap. He has played like one of the league’s better quarterbacks, ranking second in the NFL in passing touchdowns and third in passing yards.
Now 38, Cousins has the Raiders sitting at 4-4 and still in the hunt in November, which is a place this team hasn’t been in for years. Mendoza remains the long-term answer, but right now the Raiders are getting exactly what they needed from the veteran: a quarterback who is slinging it and keeping them in the race.
Las Vegas is still defying expectations, and the reason is simple. Cousins has the offense moving through the air, and what once looked like a career that might be winding down has turned into a starting role he’s not just holding onto, but thriving in.
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Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis has taken notice of the way Laube has handled the job, and the Raiders appear to have found a return answer they can trust. With his production putting him on pace for serious league-wide recognition, Laubes rise adds another layer to a roster that is still sorting out where its biggest hidden strengths really are. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Trade Deadline Pressure Is Rising For One Obvious Reason
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Klint Kubiak has already acknowledged the issues there and said the staff is working to clean them up, which only raises the urgency as the trade deadline approaches. Las Vegas has been linked to help at both receiver and along the defensive front, and the front office now has to decide whether to stay patient with what it has or make a move before those weaknesses become even harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Face A Trade Deadline Decision Fans Havent Seen In Years
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Interior defensive line help and another pass catcher are among the kinds of upgrades that could make sense, but any move would come with real cost and some risk. Las Vegas does not have a lot of roster flexibility to work with, so the front office is expected to keep its options open while weighing whether a midseason addition is worth the resources it would take to land one. [Read more 🡒]