Kirk Cousins is headed to Las Vegas and appears to be playing a losing hand. Two years ago, the one-time fourth round draft choice of the Washington Redskins, moved from the Minnesota Vikings to the Atlanta Falcons. Days after signing with the Falcons, Cousins threw a fit when his new team spent their first draft pick on a quarterback..

Now he moves to the Raiders, a team that in all likelihood is going to in a couple weeks spend the first pick in the draft on Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

So, what’s changed in the past two years for Cousins? Has he now accepted the role of mentoring his successor or simply picking up a paycheck after two disappointing campaigns in the Peach State?

A look at his career path shows a player that has seemingly always been misjudged … both under and over rated. He spent five years in college, redshirted his freshman year for Michigan State and then played four seasons. In 2012, the Washington Redskins had the second pick in the draft, and after the Indianapolis Colts spent the first pick on Stanford Quarterback Andrew Luck, the Redskins chose Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick.

In a surprise move, the Redskins also spent their fourth-round pick that year to bring another quarterback to Washington with the selection of Cousins.

In his rookie season, Cousins got one start and won but when Griffin III was questionable with an injury before a Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks, head coach Mike Shanahan opted to play his injured QB over a healthy Cousins. Even when Griffin III aggravated his injury in the game, Shanahan stuck with him and left Cousins on the bench. It was the third time in that game that Griffin III wrenched in pain on the field, unable to even pick up a loose ball inches from his shoulder, before Shanahan finally turned to Cousins.

The injuries on top of injuries that Griffin III suffered that day for all practical purposes ended his career as an effective QB. While Griffin’s career faded, Cousins proved to be a great fourth round choice. That year, after Luck and Griffin III went one-two in the draft, two other signal callers were selected in the first round. The Miami Dolphins took Ryan Tannehill with the eighth pick, and the Cleveland Browns selected Brandon Weeden with the 22nd pick in the first round. Three other quarterbacks were selected that year before the Redskins took Cousins.

In the second round of the 2012 draft, the Denver Broncos chose Brock Osweiler while Russell Wilson and Nick Foles went to the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles respectively in the third round.

Wilson proved to be the most productive quarterback from the 2012 draft class of quarterbacks, based on the fact that both Luck and Griffin careers were shortened by injuries. Wilson and Foles both guided their teams to Super Bowl wins.

Cousins has also had moments of success but in four postseason games has only one playoff win to his credit. He picked up that victory with the Minnesota Vikings in the 2019 postseason. He also led the Vikings to the playoffs in 2022, and in March 2024, Cousins signed a four-year $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons which included $100 million in guaranteed money and a $50 million signing bonus.

The amount of the contract indicated to Cousins that they were committed to him being their franchise quarterback, but only weeks after the signing Atlanta selected Michael Penix Jr. with their first pick in the 2024 draft. That move soured Cousins' relationship with Atlanta and his career with the Falcons never got off the ground.

This year, Atlanta is willing to pay 8.7 million dollars of the 10 million due this season while Cousins is no longer on their roster. Next year, Cousins is due 10 million dollars that the Raiders will have to pay unless the Silver and Black find a way to shed that financial responsibility with a team then as desperate for a quarterback as the Raiders are this year.

That is before they pick Mendoza with the first pick on April 23rd and hope he is their franchise QB of the future.

And for Cousins, the gamble on an already unlikely career path may just crap out in Vegas.