Raiders, veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins agree to free-agent deal

Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins has agreed to a free-agent deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, his agent announced on Thursday.

Cousins, who just completed his 14th NFL season, was cut by the Atlanta Falcons after two years with the franchise. He was ranked No. 70 on The Athletic’s list of the top 150 free agents of 2026. He was the fifth-ranked quarterback.

The 37-year-old signal caller, who is 19th in NFL history in regular-season passing yards (44,700 yards) and 15th in passing touchdowns (298), started just 30 games over the last three seasons while battling injury and ineffectiveness. He was benched in favor of then-rookie Michael Penix Jr. in Atlanta in Week 15 of 2024, then retook the starting job with seven weeks remaining in the 2025 season when Penix suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Last season, Cousins led the Falcons to a 5-3 record, including going 4-0 in the final four games, but finished 27th in the league in completion percentage (61.7 percent) and 31st in EPA per dropback (-0.02), according to TruMedia.

Cousins signed the largest total-value free-agent deal in NFL history with Atlanta in 2024, a four-year deal that could have been worth $180 million. He will walk away after two years of that contract, having made $100 million from the Falcons.

His career earnings of $321.5 million rank third in NFL history, according to Over The Cap, and he is the only quarterback in the top five without a Super Bowl title.

Cousins said during the season that he believed he was playing in “a contract year” because of the structure of his deal. In January, the Falcons restructured the contract in such a way that he would have been guaranteed an additional $67.9 million if he were still on the roster, essentially sealing Cousins’ fate.

Cousins was 12-10 as a starter and 24th in the league in EPA per dropback during his two years in Atlanta.