ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Raiders’ “plan is to continue to play Kirk Cousins as much as possible, and right now, they don’t believe he’s to blame for their recent struggles after a 3-0 start.” Cousins threw a league-high 16 TD passes against just 5 INTs. His completion rate (62.6%) and yards per pass attempt (7.3) were below his career rate in both categories but also higher compared to last year’s numbers.
Should We Believe It?
The Raiders remain in contention at 3-4 and reportedly have no plans to trade Edge Maxx Crosby either.
Of course, there is a chance that “sources” are releasing these reports to try to help the trade values of both veteran players. But there’s no reason right now to believe the Raiders are moving into rebuild mode.
GM John Spytek in his second season and HC Klint Kubiak his first. Spytek’s first Raiders season failed miserably under HC Pete Carroll, so he should be even more motivated to keep this year’s version competitive.
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: Keep Cousins in Contention
The only thing that really matters for fantasy purposes is how long Cousins stays in the lineup. There is currently no reason to disbelieve the reported plan.
Cousins has played well thus far, and the transition from veteran to rookie Fernando Mendoza isn’t likely to boost the team’s playoff chances.
We don’t have Cousins projected to be in the starter range for Week 8 despite a non-threatening matchup with the Jets because his production got a boost from higher pass volume in the following game scripts. We didn’t expect that kind of game against the Jets.
But Cousins should generally remain in lineup contention at least until we get some indication that the Raiders are ready to move.