Vikings officially announce Kirk Cousins will start vs. Packers following trade deadline

The Minnesota Vikings (6-2) aren’t providing their old friend Kirk Cousins any ramp up before throwing him back in the fire. After trading for the 38-year-old quarterback at the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday in a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, Cousins will start against the Green Bay Packers (6-3) on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

That means he will join Cam Newton with the Carolina Panthers and Boomer Esiason with the Cincinnati Bengals as the only quarterbacks since 1950 to start for a team in a second stint after they previously won 50-plus games with said team in their first tour of duty. 

“Cannot give him enough credit for coming in here, how he’s gone about the week, both him and the coaching staff getting him ready to go, using all the time we possibly can,” O’Connell said during Friday’s media availability. “It’s been really impressive what he’s been able to do and just the command and just getting right back in the huddle with a lot of guys he’s played with, but certainly some guys he hasn’t. It’s been something that everybody’s been very, very impressed by.”

Minnesota is desperate for the jolt the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback can provide for their sagging offense. Cousins has 22 total touchdowns in 2026, and the Vikings have scored just 11 offensive touchdowns, tied for the fewest in the NFL with the 0-8 Los Angeles Chargers. His 20 passing touchdowns rank as the second-most in the league this season, just three behind Joe Burrow’s league-leading 23 and one ahead of Jordan Love’s 19. 

This news certainly makes four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s Friday a happy one. Jefferson won NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2022, his last season with a fully healthy Cousins, after leading the league in targets (184), catches (128), receiving yards (1,809), and receiving first downs (83).  The 98.9 passing yards per game that Cousins averages to Jefferson is the most by a quarterback-receiver duo in NFL history (min. 50 games together).

Coach Kevin O’Connell also hopes Cousins’ presence can halt the quarterback carousel Minnesota has gone through since Cousins tore his Achilles in his last Vikings start at Lambeau Field against the Packers in Week 8 of the 2023 season. They have made an NFL-high 17 starting quarterback changes since then. 

Should the Vikings hang on and make the playoffs in the 2026 season, Cousins could become the first quarterback in NFL history to start a playoff game in the same season he started a game for multiple teams.