Kirk Cousins Returns to the Vikings as the Trade Deadline Closes With Taylor Staying Put

The NFL trade deadline ended the way it started: with the Minnesota Vikings admitting they had a quarterback problem. Less than 24 hours after Carson Wentz posted an 8.9 passer rating in a 23-6 Monday night loss to Buffalo, the Vikings traded a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for Kirk Cousins, the 38-year-old who led the franchise from 2018 through 2023. Six deals went through on Tuesday, and 18 in-season trades happened in total, ESPN reports. The biggest name on the market, Jonathan Taylor, stayed in Indianapolis, and one agreed deal collapsed before it could be filed.

Why did the Vikings bring Kirk Cousins back?

Because Monday night left them no choice. Carson Wentz completed 8 of 25 passes for 81 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble against the Bills, finishing with the lowest passer rating by a quarterback with at least 25 attempts since 2019, and he was benched for Max Brosmer in the fourth quarter. Head coach Kevin O’Connell blamed himself after the game and deferred any quarterback move to general manager Nolan Teasley. By Tuesday afternoon, Teasley had made it.

Cousins is the smoothest fix available, and not only because he knows the building. He played under O’Connell in 2022 and 2023, and USA Today notes the connection with Justin Jefferson should be rekindled shortly. He started all nine games for Las Vegas this season, throwing for 2,340 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, and USA Today gave the Vikings an A for the move, calling Cousins the highest-upside option with the easiest transition of any quarterback they could have acquired. The Vikings are 6-2 and visit the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, with Green Bay defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon saying the Packers are preparing for anybody Minnesota puts behind center.

What did the Raiders get, and who starts now?

A third-round pick, and a rookie under center. The Raiders had held onto Cousins partly to keep Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft, out of the early fray, USA Today reports. That protection is over: Mendoza starts in Week 10 against the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks. Head coach Klint Kubiak had already made clear he did not want a full redshirt year for Mendoza, so the debut arrives a few weeks early rather than out of nowhere.

Las Vegas got mostly what it wanted out of Cousins, USA Today notes. He helped troubleshoot first-year coach Kubiak’s offense through the summer and the fall, and he kept a team with the league’s 31st-ranked rushing attack competitive enough to stay in games. What he leaves behind is a team that has given up 30 or more points in five straight games, which means Mendoza’s first start is a shootout waiting to happen.

Which other deals went through on Tuesday?

Five more, and the Colts were on the selling end of two of them. Kansas City acquired wide receiver Josh Downs from Indianapolis for 2027 fourth- and fifth-round picks, with the Colts sending a seventh-round pick back, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. Downs, 25, requested a trade two weeks ago as the Colts sent off other key pieces, and he led Indianapolis with 354 receiving yards in nine games. He immediately becomes Kansas City’s leading wide receiver in receiving yards this season, which says as much about the Chiefs’ receiving corps as it does about Downs. USA Today notes Patrick Mahomes’s 5.7 air yards per attempt is by far the lowest average of any qualified passer.

The Bills, tied for the league’s best record at 7-1, acquired safety Amani Hooker from the Titans for a second-round pick, receiving a fifth-round pick back. Hooker, 28, is tied for the NFL lead with five interceptions this season, including three against Joe Burrow on November 1, and he is signed through 2028. Buffalo released starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on November 3 and had spent a month reshaping its secondary. Denver added linebacker Daiyan Henley from the 0-8 Chargers for a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick; Henley, 26, leads the Chargers with 51 tackles in eight games. San Francisco added six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Colts for a sixth-round pick, the second Colts-49ers trade in recent weeks after DeForest Buckner went back to San Francisco on October 27. The last deal before the deadline saw Baltimore and Atlanta swap interior linemen, with center Ryan Neuzil going to the Ravens for guard Andrew Vorhees and a 2028 sixth-round pick.

Monday had already been busy. Jacksonville made three defensive additions in one day, acquiring safety Jessie Bates III, defensive tackle Davon Godchaux and defensive tackle Jordan Davis from the Eagles, a move that cost the Jaguars a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick for Davis alone. Detroit added safety Andre Cisco from the Jets for a 2029 sixth-round pick. The earlier blockbusters set the tone: Jeffery Simmons to the Bears for two first-round picks, Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Texans, Quenton Nelson to the Seahawks, J.J. McCarthy to the Giants and Jacoby Brissett to the Ravens.

Who stayed put at the deadline?

The biggest name first. The Colts will not trade Jonathan Taylor, USA Today reports, along with quarterback Daniel Jones and defensive tackle Grover Stewart. Taylor had loomed as the key figure of the day, with many wondering whether Indianapolis would complete its teardown by parting with its star running back. Instead, the Colts sold two receivers and kept the back, which reads as a team choosing which pieces belong in its next chapter rather than stripping the roster bare.

Elsewhere, the Chargers kept edge rusher Khalil Mack, the Titans kept running back Tony Pollard, the Cardinals kept safety Budda Baker and edge rusher Josh Sweat, the Ravens kept running back Derrick Henry, the Jaguars kept wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., and the Jets kept Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall and Will McDonald IV. Brandon Aiyuk was reinstated by the NFL on Monday with a two-week roster exemption through November 23, and no trade materialised for him either. Dallas stayed quiet, as Jerry Jones had promised it would, telling his radio show he did not look for the Cowboys to make a significant trade.

What was the strangest deal of the day?

The one that died on arithmetic. The Eagles agreed to send defensive end Arnold Ebiketie to the Bengals for a 2027 sixth-round pick, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. Then Cincinnati discovered the move would cost it a projected 2027 third-round compensatory pick, the one it was set to receive for losing Trey Hendrickson to the Ravens in free agency, and the Bengals backed out. A sixth-round pick for a pass rusher is cheap. A sixth-round pick plus a third-round pick is not, and Cincinnati decided the difference was not worth it. USA Today had already reported the expectation that the Bengals would back out after ESPN’s Adam Schefter flagged the compensatory-pick problem.

What happens next?

The quarterback questions do not end at the deadline. Minnesota has not publicly named its starter for Sunday at Green Bay, and the answer matters beyond one game: Kyler Murray remains out with the hamstring injury he suffered in Week 8, and Cousins is the bridge until Murray returns, whenever that is. In Las Vegas, Mendoza’s debut against Seattle will say a lot about how ready the No. 1 pick really is, and how much of the Raiders’ season was Cousins holding the operation together. In Indianapolis, the teardown is now a matter of record: Nelson, Buckner, Harrison, Downs and Allen all gone in the space of a month, Taylor still standing. Teams cannot trade again until the new league year begins on March 11, 2027, so every one of these bets is locked in until then.