Schefty: Cousins a ‘prime trade candidate’ for MIN

And where did that bring you? Back to me. Cousins will likely take over as Minnesota’s starting quarterback in the near future, if not immediately. When that happens, Kyler Murray will head back to the bench for a second straight season — he’s droppable in most leagues at this point. Fernando Mendoza will take over as starting quarterback for the Raiders. Mendoza is best approached cautiously at this point in fantasy leagues. Cousins’ value likely remains stagnant — Klint Kubiak was already getting quite a bit out of him — but he provides the Vikings with a better floor at quarterback than what they were getting so it’s obvious after watching Carson Wentz play last night why this is happening.

The statuesque Cousins was under duress from start to finish, often falling back as he threw the ball into tight windows. That led to three picks, which should have been four or five picks if 49ers defenders had been a little more sure handed. As usual, Cousins targeted Brock Bowers relentlessly, once again connecting with the superstar tight end for a touchdown. He nearly threw a second touchdown to Bowers in the second half. Cousins also had a touchdown to Michael Mayer called back on an offensive pass interference penalty. This was only Cousins’ second game of the year with less than two TD passes. Cousins will be a superflex option in Week 10 against the Seahawks.

With the Fernando Mendoza chatter increasing as the Raiders were mired in a four-game losing streak, Cousins responded with his fourth three-touchdown effort through the air, albeit his first since Week 3. Cousins has now provided multiple scores in 7-of-8 starts, and is up to 20 overall on the season. This, with Tre Tucker as his No. 1 receiver. Of course, Tucker is merely Cousins’ No. 1 wideout. Brock Bowers is his No. 1 pass catcher, and the elite tight end stacked up 7/92/2 in the new Meadowlands. Cousins seemed to look Bowers’ way on all the most critical downs, and he was richly rewarded. Fantasy managers also continue to be rewarded with Cousins in streamer spots, though that will be put to the test in Week 9 against the 49ers on the road. With only two teams on bye, we would be looking elsewhere in our quarterback spots.

Schefter added that the team does not feel their current four-game losing streak is the fault of Cousins. He threw for nine touchdowns in the first three games, all of which the Raiders won. Cousins has just seven touchdowns over his past four outings, though he has only thrown two interceptions and taken just five sacks during that stretch. The Raiders are probably right to lay the blame elsewhere. Still, No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza is waiting in the wings. He is the future of the franchise, and his time grows closer with every Raiders loss. Vegas takes on the Jets this week. They then get a gauntlet of San Francisco, Seattle, and Denver. A 0-3 run that late in the season would likely spell the end of Cousins as their starter.

Rather than let any speculation linger, Kubiak was quick to shut down any idea of a switch at quarterback heading into Week 8’s game against the Jets. Kubiak said, “There is no controversy” at quarterback at this time, while also adding that “Fernando [Mendoza] is going to play football” at some point this season. Kubiak said the team does not have a timeline for when Mendoza could eventually make a start, and said Cousins continues to play well despite the team’s recent struggles. Cousins will be firmly on the streaming radar this week against a Jets team that just allowed 28 points to the Dolphins.

Kubiak was asked about the possibility of switching from Kirk Cousins to rookie No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, and said the team is considering “everything” while also making it sound like their struggles were more of a team issue. Cousins struggled in the early part of Sunday’s loss to the Rams, but managed some late touchdowns in garbage time to save his stat line. If the Raiders are considering a switch, it’s possible we’ll learn their decision by Wednesday, when they begin preparing for their Week 8 game against the Jets.

Cousins, as per usual, did next to nothing before the Raiders got down by multiple scores in the second half. He ends with a pretty solid fantasy line thanks to a couple long connections with fellow garbage time merchant Tre Tucker, who led the Raiders with 108 yards and a score. Cousins’ other score went to the Raiders’ backfield garbage time merchant Ashton Jeanty. Cousins now has multiple touchdown throws in six of his seven games in 2026. The Fernando Mendoza clock is nearing midnight as the uncompetitive Raiders flounder and Cousins looks more washed by the week. If he still has the starting job by Week 8, Cousins will be a decent streaming option against the Jets.

Cousins and the Raiders strung together a handful of nice drives in Sunday’s loss to the Bills, but they needed to be just about perfect to slow Buffalo’s offensive attack. With Brock Bowers bottled up for most of the evening, Cousins connected with tight end Michael Mayer seven times for 95 yards, with his lone touchdown passes coming on passes of 11 and 44 yards to Tre Tucker in the fourth quarter. The 44-yard touchdown pass to Tucker came inside of two minutes and with the Bills up by 10, but Cousins and Tucker took advantage of a struggling Bills’ defense to complete the long score and keep things interesting in the waning seconds. Now losers of three straight games, the Raiders will hope to avoid a fourth straight loss next week when they host the suddenly 2-4 Rams. Cousins continues to enjoy a career revival under Klint Kubiak and has now thrown for 1,582-14-5 in his first six games. He’ll be in the QB2 mix for next week’s game against the Rams.

No real surprise after Mendoza’s mop-up appearance in Week 5. It doesn’t appear that he’s taken a major step towards unseating Cousins — who has played well — just yet. But it remains a reasonable bet to happen in the near future.

Cousins didn’t play poorly, but didn’t do much beyond connecting with Brock Bowers for some long gains in the first half. The Patriots avalanched the severely overmatched Raiders in the third quarter. Cousins was sacked three times while narrowly avoiding a few other big losses, as the Vegas offensive line struggled to protect him throughout. His muted showing comes after 11 touchdown tosses over the season’s first four games in Klint Kubiak’s offense. Cousins will look to bounce back in Week 6 against the Bills in what should be a high-scoring affair.