The Las Vegas Raiders have signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a five-year, $172 million deal, kind of. The deal is really just $20 million guaranteed over one season, or, if things go incredibly well, a clause allows it to become a two-year deal for $80 million.

This deal feels pretty crazy for the Raiders. In less than one month, Heisman trophy-winning quarterback, Fernando Mendozza, will walk across the stage wearing a Raiders cap as they will most likely select him with the first overall pick. I don’t mind Las Vegas adding a veteran quarterback to help mold their young draft pick, but why would they get one that’s as expensive as Cousins?

Las Vegas is a team with so many deficiencies across the board, so I can’t understand why they would pay $20 million for Kirk Cousins. His stint in Atlanta was a bit of a disaster for the Falcons, as he had two of his three lowest QBR seasons of his career and higher turnover numbers than usual.

Cousins won’t be getting any younger either; he will turn 38 this season, and his legs never really seemed to bounce back after his Achilles tear. This feels like a bit of a waste of money for the Raiders, but there is one person who comes out of this deal a winner, and it’s Mike McCartney.

You might be wondering who McCartney even is, and he’s one of the NFL’s biggest thieves. McCartney is Kirk Cousins’ agent who has represented him throughout his entire NFL career. Cousins is far from being a bad NFL player, maybe even underrated at certain points in his career.

Despite being underrated in terms of status in football circles, Cousins has never been underpaid. With this contract, Cousins becomes the third-highest earning player in NFL history, only behind Matthew Stafford, a future Hall of Famer, and Tom Brady, another first ballot Hall of Famer. Cousins is a four-time Pro Bowler, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of, but his agent has turned that into $321 million in career earnings.

Since moving off his rookie deal in Washington, Cousins has earned at least $19.9 million every year of his career, and in 2024, he was paid $62.5 million from the Falcons, after tearing his Achilles.

Unless Kirk Cousins has some surprise ending to his career where he magically wins a Super Bowl, I don’t think he will end up in the Hall of Fame; however, Mike McCartney needs to end up in the agent Hall of Fame.

Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has made some good money during his long NFL career. He’s known as a player who always signs fully guaranteed contracts. In fact, the last time his salary wasn’t guaranteed was over a decade ago, in Washington, during the final year of his rookie contract.

On Thursday, he announced that his next stop will be the Las Vegas Raiders, where he’ll mentor the likely first overall pick, Fernando Mendoza.

His deal with his new squad has turned some heads. ESPN’s Adam Schefter revealed the inflated numbers in a tweet, saying:

Comp update: Kirk Cousins will sign a five-year, $172 million deal with the Raiders that in reality is a one-year, fully-guaranteed $20 million deal that also contains a club option for two years at $80M.

The Falcons will pay Cousins $8.7 million this season, the Raiders another $1.3 million and Las Vegas also agreed to pay its new QB a fully-guaranteed $10 million roster bonus on the third day of the 2027 new league year.

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And maybe most notably, it also sets another new mark: this will be the 11th straight NFL season in which Cousins’ contract will be fully guaranteed.

He ultimately used a bunch of words to describe a contract that will be shredded in a year. The last four years of the five-year deal are pretty much made up. Cousins will make $20 million for one season. Of that salary, his former team, the Atlanta Falcons, will be on the hook for $8.7 million. Las Vegas will pay the other $11.3 million.

But there’s one caveat that Atlanta can’t be happy about. The roster bonus will be due in March of 2027. Therefore, it doesn’t count against this year’s money he’s owed by Atlanta. Cousins had $10 million of guaranteed money left on his deal when the Falcons released him. He’d make that money whether he’s sitting on a beach or playing for someone else.

These contracts have offset language, however, meaning his new salary will reduce the money the old team has to pay him. The Vikings benefit from that rule multiple times this year. Because the Bengals pay Jonathan Allen more than the Vikings owed him, they no longer owe him that money.

Cousins found a way to get the money from the Falcons, but also make more than they would’ve paid him.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio commented, “It seems too easy, too convenient. Cousins’s market value was $20 million. The Raiders found a way to get him there by making the Falcons pay $8.7 million of it. The Falcons, frankly, should be pissed. It’s one thing to sign a guy to a one-year deal for the minimum and to stick his former team with the rest of it, like Tagovailoa and Murray did. It’s another to come up with a way to pay Cousins more than the money he’s owed by the Falcons by bumping some of the guarantee into the next year.”

The Vikings got Kyler Murray for the same $1.3 million while the Arizona Cardinals are stuck with over $35 million. If the Raiders signed Cousins for $5 million, the Falcons would pay the remaining $5 million. If Las Vegas signed Cousins for $10 million or more, Atlanta would owe nothing.

Long story short, the Falcons still owe Cousins $8.7 million of his initial $10 million, while the Raiders pay him the difference. Then, Cousins will get another $10 million next year that doesn’t count towards that Falcons money due to contract magic.

Next offseason, Cousins will likely be released and land on the open market once again, as the two-year. $80 million club option triggers in March and it would be shocking if Cousins played well enough to be worth that.

According to Over the Cap, Cousins ranks third in NFL history in career earnings. He’ll likely be passed by some players who entered the league after him in the near future, but as his earnings appraoch $350 million, he can’t be too mad about that.

Cousins will turn 38 in August.

Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.

Janik Eckardt is a German sports nerd, who likes numbers and stats. He chose the Vikings to be his … More about Janik Eckardt

Roman Reigns had a heartfelt interaction with a young fan. He also shared a nice message for the fan.

Reigns is one of the biggest stars in the world of professional wrestling. He has gained a massive fan following over the years. Given that Reigns’ appearances are treated as box office, he always gets a huge pop when he shows up. While he puts on the tough persona of someone who doesn’t care about anyone else but himself, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The OTC recently granted a wish for a young fan named Javion. The former WWE Champion even went the extra mile and posted the pictures of his interaction with the young fan on Instagram with a heartfelt message. This was out of character for Reigns.

“It was a pleasure meeting you and your family, Javion. Keep pushing, and keep inspiring others. I can’t wait to see your growth and what you do in the future. ☝🏽”

Check out his post here:

Trick Williams wants to face Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is one of the most sought-after stars on the WWE roster. Therefore, there are a lot of people who want his spot. There are also a lot of stars who want to face The OTC to find out who is the best. One of those stars is Trick Williams.

During an interview with ESPN’s The 3 Count, Trick Williams was asked to name his dream opponent. He first chose Booker T, but since that match can’t happen, he chose Reigns.

“I would love to get in the ring with Booker T, but in the event that day has passed, I want to lock up with Roman Reigns, The Big Dog, The Tribal Chief. He said he’s the greatest, so let’s find out,” Williams said.

If Trick Williams keeps improving in the ring, then this match won’t be too far away.