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EAGAN, Minn. — Kirk Cousins is back with the Minnesota Vikings, and their next game is at the stadium where his first run with the team ended.
The Vikings acquired Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday for a 2027 third-round pick, five days before Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Both teams announced the trade as pending a physical. As of Wednesday, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell had not named a starter.
Cousins tore his right Achilles tendon at Lambeau on Oct. 29, 2023, and left the field on a cart. He did not play for Minnesota again before signing elsewhere in free agency.
The 38-year-old held his first news conference since the trade Wednesday at TCO Performance Center, following general manager Nolan Teasley and O’Connell to the podium.
“To be back there, wearing the purple and gold, it has meaning,” Cousins said. “But you have to go make it mean something with the way you play.”
Kirk Cousins On Returning To Minnesota Vikings And Kevin O’Connell
The deal moved fast. Cousins said he was “about halfway into my eggs” at the Raiders’ facility Tuesday morning when Raiders coach Klint Kubiak, a former Vikings quarterbacks coach, called and asked him to come upstairs to meet with Kubiak and general manager John Spytek.
Cousins had started all nine games for Las Vegas, which named No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza its starter after the trade. Later Tuesday, Cousins kept a scheduled appointment at a Great Clips in the Las Vegas area and was interviewed there before leaving.
“I really couldn’t speak more highly of my time here in Vegas,” Cousins explained.
In the same interview, Cousins said he hoped to “write the ending to a story for me that started eight, nine years ago when I first arrived.” He joined Minnesota in 2018 and spent six seasons there, the last two under O’Connell.
Cousins started all 25 regular-season games he played under O’Connell in 2022 and 2023. “Kevin knows me,” he said Wednesday.
“I think the fact that he knows me well, the good about me and the bad about me, should help us,” Cousins said.
O’Connell Holds Off On Naming Week 10 Starter Against Green Bay Packers
O’Connell stopped short of naming Cousins the starter during his session Wednesday.
“It’s still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan on Sunday looks like,” O’Connell said, “but I will say, excited about the opportunity of spending every moment we can between now and then to get him comfortable and allow him to play for us this Sunday.”
Cousins said it was too early in the week to give a fair answer on whether he is ready to start.
O’Connell said Kyler Murray began his running progression Monday as he works back from a hamstring injury. Carson Wentz, who started in Murray’s place Monday night, will open the week as a limited practice participant with an ankle injury.
Wentz went 8-of-25 for 81 yards with two interceptions in a 23-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills at U.S. Bank Stadium. ESPN measured his QBR at 2.3, the lowest by any quarterback this season. With the deadline less than a day away, O’Connell said after that game, “We’ve had dialogue about a lot of different positions.”
Teasley said lineup decisions belong to O’Connell, but added that Minnesota “didn’t acquire Kirk to not play.”
“We acquired Kirk to join a 6-2 football team and play,” O’Connell explained.
Minnesota (6-2) and Green Bay (6-3) kick off at noon CT Sunday on FOX.
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