Kirk Cousins On List Of Possible Jalen Hurts Replacements In Philadelphia

Life comes at you pretty fast in the NFL, just ask the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles, the consensus pre-season favorite in the NFC East and a perennial contender for the past decade, opened the 2026 NFL season with two victories, but have since stumbled to four consecutive losses.

Philadelphia's biggest loss, however, came on Monday when the team announced that quarterback Jalen Hurts would miss the remainder of the season after doctors discovered multiple blood clots in his lungs. Because the treatment involves taking anticoagulants, aka blood thinners, Hurts cannot participate in any contact activities, which includes football.

However, the NFC East is putrid this season and though the Eagles are 2-4, they are tied for second with the Dallas Cowboys - who they play on Monday night - and just 1.5 games behind the New York Giants (3-2-1), with a general manager, Howie Roseman, who is known to be aggressive. Might he think the season is still salvageable?

The Las Vegas Raiders have also been riding the NFL rollercoaster through six weeks. Following a surprising 3-0 start, they have lost three consecutive games, the latest a 33-30 setback to the Buffalo Bills that left them looking up at the Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) and Denver Broncos (4-2) in the AFC West.

The Raiders' offense has been dynamic, averaging 27.0 points per game under the leadership of veteran Kirk Cousins, who on Sunday became the 19th quarterback in league history to surpass 46,000 career passing yards. With 46,282 overall, he stands 17th all-time with a legitimate chance to move into 14th place by the end of the season.

Cousins also has an NFL-best 14 touchdown passes, a total that ties him with Jeff George for the most TD passes  in a player's first six games with the franchise.

In other words, Cousins - who is 135-for-213 (63.4%) for 1,582 yards (263.7 per game) with those 14 TD tosses - apparently still has what it takes to be a top-flight signal-caller in the league.

The Raiders also have a No. 1 draft pick waiting in the wings in Fernando Mendoza. He has appeared in just one game, going 6-for-8 for 48 yards in mop-up duty in the 45-17 loss to the New England Patriots on Oct. 11, but he didn't look overmatched in his first NFL action.

So, with the Raiders supposedly formulating a plan to ultimately shift to Mendoza as the starter at some point as the season progresses, does the confluence of Hurts' unavailability, Cousins' continued viability as a starter and Mendoza's QB-in-waiting status mean a trade that sends Cousins east to Philly could be in the offing?

Writing for Sportsnaut on Oct. 19, Andrew Buller-Russ opines that Cousins could indeed be on the Eagles' trade radar: "Suddenly, the Las Vegas Raiders have lost three games in a row, and their playoff hopes are starting to fade," he wrote. "Though, that’s no fault of four-time Pro Bowler Kirk Cousins, who is in a first-place tie for the most passing touchdowns in the NFL. While the Raiders would likely prefer to keep their quarterback who’s been thriving in Klint Kubiak’s system, especially because he’s undoubtedly been a valued locker room piece for rookie Fernando Mendoza, it’s also not unfeasible to think they want to start evaluating their No. 1 overall pick."

The other QBs Buller-Ross lists as possible Hurts replacements are Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns, Jacoby Brissett of the Arizona Cardinals, Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers and Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Neither team has all that much time left to make a decision with the trade deadline looming on Nov. 10, three short weeks away.