Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Las Vegas Raiders signed a veteran quarterback to a deal worth $172 million, but the structure hides key details.
- Only $20 million of the contract is guaranteed, with the team paying just $1.3 million this season and $10 million next year.
- The deal serves as insurance while the team plans to draft a rookie quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick this year.
If you follow the NFL at all, I'm sure you had the same question as I did: Why in the world would the Las Vegas Raiders sign Kirk Cousins to a $172 million deal? Silly us, we should've known that, in today's NFL, money is only real if you want it to be. The league's seemingly arbitrary salary cap makes loopholes inevitable, and as a result, you have to look at the fine print and not just the big number. Turns out that Cousins is only guaranteed $20 million of that supposed $172 million.
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.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 2, 2026
The Falcons will pay Cousins $8.7 million this season, the Raiders another… pic.twitter.com/MHYqOOfBs7
That $20 million is what matters, because when you only pay attention to the bottom line, you learn just how the Raiders made this work — and why they structured the deal the way they did. If Cousins’ deal doesn’t make sense now, my goal is to make sure it does after you read this. Here’s his contract explained and why the Raiders went this route.
Kirk Cousins' new Raiders contract: Explain it to me like I'm five
- The big number ($172 million): This is what the contract Cousins signed is technically worth
- The real promise ($20 million guaranteed): The $20 million is all he’s actually guaranteed to make
- The terms: Atlanta owes Cousins $8.7 million from his previous contract in Atlanta; the Raiders owe $11.3 million of the $20 million total.
- The rest: Cousins’ contract comes with a two-year, $80 million club option after the 2026 season
The Raiders found the perfect loophole in their deal with Kirk Cousins. They were able to finesse the Atlanta Falcons into paying more of Cousins’ deal from the $10 million he’s owed for this upcoming season, and they managed to leverage his deal into a team-friendly, one-year contract that could be extended three years after 2026.
It’s a lot to sort through, because on paper, it looks like a massive extension. But the way it’s structured, the Raiders are paying him just $1.3 million this year and then a $10 million roster bonus next year, which covers the full $20 million guaranteed.
Why this deal isn’t really worth $172 million
You can thank the Philadelphia Eagles for helping to popularize void years and dead money, which have become the norm in NFL contracts these days. Because the NFL has a salary cap with non-fully guaranteed contracts, teams can get up to all sorts of accounting tricks. The reason why Cousins is only making $20 million of the $172 million of the contract is because that’s the guaranteed money.
Now, because the Raiders wanted to pay as little of that $20 million as possible, they turned $10 million of that money into a roster bonus for next season, meaning he’d be owed $10 million this year. That means the Falcons will have to pay $8.7 million of the $10 million while Vegas is only paying him $1.3 million this year.
What Kirk Cousins is actually likely to make
Cousins probably won’t make more than the $20 million he’s guaranteed by the Raiders. He does have a team option for $80 million for two years after this year, but I doubt the Raiders take that option. They’re most likely going to draft Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick. Cousins is insurance in the event Mendoza gets hurt or they want to ease Mendoza into the NFL.
It wouldn’t make sense for the Raiders to lock themselves into an $80 million commitment with a rookie quarterback already at the helm. Unless Mendoza suffers a major injury – and unless Cousins turns back the clock – it’s likely this is just a one-year deal for $20 million.
Why have there been similar deals to the Kirk Cousins signing?
Though this Kirk Cousins deal is one of its kind, the Kansas City Chiefs pulled a similar trick with Travis Kelce. The reason is ot get a team-friendly deal up front while also getting insurance if needed, spreading a cap hit out over multiple years that won't actually hurt you if you want to move on.
This is essentially a way to keep from spending too much of the cap in any one year, guaranteeing more money to a player that could retire soon without having to pay them longer than you want to. This makes sense for players like Kelce and Cousins, who are at the ends of their careers. Structuring their contracts this way gives their teams a chance to get a player at lower value, while having the option to retain them at market value if they want.