Raiders Big Trade Ranked High In Possible Playoff Impact

The Las Vegas Raiders just pulled off the biggest trade of the season before the deadline hit, and it’s going to have a profound impact on the playoffs, although that impact might not actually involve the Raiders. 

But Austin Mock of The Athletic ranked this year’s list of deadline deals for their prospective affect on the playoffs, and the deal that sent Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings was ranked second. 

The deal was based largely on Cousins’ ability to save the Vikings season, as the Vikings dropped to 6-2 with their Monday night loss to the Buffalo Bills. Cousins is supposed to ride to the rescue in this situation, but that’s a big ask, according to Mock. 

His quarterback index While Cousins is certainly than better than either Kyler Murray or Carson Wentz, there are questions about whether he can elevate Minnesota’s offense to above league average, per the writer. 

It’s a somewhat unfair question given how much Cousins elevated the Raiders offense, as he somehow led the league in touchdown passes or was tied for the lead with an offense that had almost no receivers and no running game. 

But the real question behind this thought is about Cousins vs. Klint Kubiak. Kubiak has been getting high marks for his play calling, and Cousins knows his offense inside out. They’ve been in lockstep for most of the season, with Cousins switching out of plays when necessary and being willing to take some serious hits in the pocket to make prospective throws. 

Rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza certainly won’t be able to do that initially, although it would be great to be surprised. But how much he struggles will also tell us a lot about Kubiak’s impact versus that of Cousins, so that’s how that part will work. 

Meanwhile, at Minnesota, Cousins will have receiver Justin Jefferson to work with, which is way better than anything he had at receiver at Las Vegas. 

He’ll basically be switching to a tight-end based offense that revolved around Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer to a different receiver-based attack that's  also led by an excellent play caller in Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. That’s going to be fascinating to watch initially, and even more so if Cousins can actually produce wins. 

The Raiders, however, probably forfeited any chance they had at a playoff spot, although their chances were marginal to begin with. This was definitely the most impactful trade, but maybe not so much when it comes to total  playoff positioning.