The Las Vegas Raiders traded Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings at the trade deadline, as they looked to move on from the veteran QB.
Cousins was brought into the Raiders to help mentor Fernando Mendoza, whom they picked with the #1 overall pick in the draft this summer.
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However, after the Raiders lost to the San Francisco 49ers, their postseason hopes were over, thus giving them the freedom to play Mendoza as a starter.
Las Vegas Raiders gave Kirk Cousins a choice to veto Minnesota Vikings trade
According to NFL insider Ari Meirov, The Las Vegas Raiders met with Kirk Cousins to go through their available options going forward.
Even though Cousins didn’t have a no-trade clause, the Raiders wanted to reward his hard work by giving him the choice to reject a trade to the Minnesota Vikings.
Of course, Cousins would end up accepting the trade and returning to the Vikings after three years since his previous tenure with the team ended.
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Clearly, the Raiders had no real need to offer Cousins the power to veto a trade given that he never had a no-trade clause in his contract.
But seeing and recognising the effort he made during his brief time with their franchise, not to mention the way he mentored Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders felt that he had earned that right.
For the Raiders, this marks the first step into the Fernando Mendoza era, as with Cousins’ departure, the Raiders will now be starting their rookie quarterback.
It is a strategy many franchises have employed in the past – most notably, the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016, when they had Patrick Mahomes play backup quarterback till the season was mostly over, before giving his first start once their playoff prospects were done.
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The Raiders are hoping that their approach with Mendoza yields similar success, as they are a franchise desperate to experience long-term success.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
