Kirk Cousins signs with Raiders (4/3 Hour 1)

Coming up today on PFT Live, Kirk Cousins heads to Sin City. Will he be the Raiders' week one starter for 2026? Packers head coach Matt LaFleur with an honest assessment of what went wrong last year in Green Bay. And the latest in the battle between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. PFT Live starts right after this. A Kirk A Cousins. You like him very much. That Kirk is as influential as anybody in helping me. Sean McVeigh really likes the Kirk A Cousins. He gets one of those two depending on what you want for Kirk Cousins. There's a pretty good chance at some point between week one and week 18 we'll see Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins agreeing to terms with the Las Vegas Raiders. You like that! You like that! The news broke has announced by his agent not long after we went off the air. Forcing me, not that I didn't want to, to go down to the Olive Garden set and do a 5 or 10 minute Kirk Cousins to the Raiders video. I still am surprised that Kirk Cousins ended up in Las Vegas. I'm not surprised to see my good friend Michael Holly on Good Friday. Splashes of pink for Easter in the Adidas. I went with the Velvet. I have not ensconced myself in Velvet in a while. I know it's not socially acceptable but at my age I don't give a shit. So good morning with that. Good morning Mike. There we go right off the top. In the first minute you drop it. All right I like it. It's gonna be that kind of day. But yeah I have the pink and getting ready for the famous Holly Easter egg hunt. So I've got to be strategic Mike about where I place the eggs and where I place well not the eggs but the golden egg because the golden egg contains something similar to what Kirk Cousins gets in his contracts. Oh that's what the kids think. I mean they think it's got some money in it. Got a little bit of money. Got a little bit of a bag in the golden egg. So I have to be strategic about where I place it because last year it was big controversy. I'd make a long story short. Holly kids cheated. They looked out the window as the Easter Bunny me was putting the egg in a very very well thought out place and they went out as soon as the doors opened they went right to it. I said okay. Okay we're gonna do it over. We're gonna do it over because you guys were looking at me do it. You know where it is. So I am getting this is pink for Easter and for the Easter egg hunt. I need a great hiding place this year. So you have a normal smattering of eggs of all the different colors. I'm assuming the plastic green yellow orange pink. Exactly. And then you have one golden egg. One golden egg that has money in it. That has money in it. Can't fit a whole lot of money. What's it got. It's 20 in there. No it's a no no it's a it's a bigger it's big. It's a it's it's it's almost like a scaled down football. It's it's a pretty big it's a golden egg and like a flag like the official flag football. Exactly something like that. And the problem Mike is that last year and I figured out why they were all you know doing their versions their different versions of cheating. But one kid was making plans off of what he was going to get from the golden egg. I said yeah you can't do that. It's like say hey you know when I win the lottery I'm going to do this. Well you might win the lottery but it's it's totally random. You've got a in their case you've got a 33% chance of winning but you can't make plans. You can't play certain plans off of something that you may not win. So it's more than 20. Yes it may be more than 40. Pretty good. Wow. Maybe I'm maybe I'm coming out. Maybe I'll be there. I don't know. It keeps going out. Cousins may show up. And by the way I love I love Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins. We've talked about this before. He is heroic. He is he is an inspiration to everybody who says hey more to the workers. Power to the people. Go ahead. Get your money. Do everything you can. Maximize your earnings earning potential. I love Kirk Cousins. I'm happy to see him get yet another guaranteed deal even though I don't think the Atlanta Falcons are too happy about it. Before we get to that though I have to share with you one story. My favorite Easter story and it's not the one about how I became aware of the whole you're getting warm you're getting cold because that was kind of a stressful moment for me when I was like three because I didn't know what they like at first. I'm like what are you people talking about. I'm fine. I'm I'm I feel completely normal. You're getting warm. You're getting cold like you take it very literally when you're three. And like there's no thermometer up my butt. So how do you know if I'm getting warm. Remember that's how they used to do it kids back in the day when they wanted to check your temperature to get it right. They had to put that thermometer in a place where you wouldn't think thermometers go. But anyway my favorite story as relates to a trick I pulled on my dad and I may have told this last Good Friday. I probably tell it every Good Friday. But but after we made because beyond the plastic egg thing like they would and this was pre plastic eggs. I don't know if they didn't make them or what we would take the eggs color the eggs hard boiled eggs and then we'd have a house full of hard boiled eggs for as long as hard boiled eggs are good for they're possibly good forever. I don't know. But we'd eat the hard boiled eggs crack them roll get the it was always fun peeling the shell off the hard boiled eggs. So anyway my dad was a big fan of the hard boiled egg all the different colors of the rainbow in the bowl. And one year I was older. It's that was 1920. I call it a raw egg. Put it in with the hard boiled eggs made my exit. Oh dad's the one that has someone that smacked the egg down to peel off the shell. I wasn't there. I wasn't there to enjoy it. And or get the get the crap kicked out of me. He would have done that though. He never he wasn't the rat. It was all he had to do was all he had to do was unbuckle the belt and whatever I was doing I stopped. So all he had to do now by the time I was in 18 or 20 wouldn't get to do anything. I was the alpha in the household by then he was five five. But all he had to do when I was a kid all I do unbuckle that belt. I was done. But I think he I think he saw the humor. That's great. I think they appreciated the effort. How could you not. How could you not. Yeah. So fortunately we don't do it because that's one of those karma was going to get me. But I'm wondering as an experience like you say you love hard boiled eggs. Could you pick could you pick it up. Could you pick it up and tell the difference if you just if you were just trying to compare. OK which one one of them is a hard boiled egg when I'm not something's different about this one. But then if you painted it you know maybe you're not thinking you just think hey they're all hard boiled eggs and you just go. But you could probably if you were looking if you were really probably feel the difference between a hard boiled egg and a raw one. If you knew that your jerk son had colored an egg and put it in the bowl. Yeah. You could you could. But you just assume what moron would tell her a raw egg. So but they do feel fundamentally different. There's an extra weightiness and more of a continuity like you know there's something shifting around inside that raw egg. It's not it's wobbly. The hard boiled egg is despite its weird shape is still far less wildly. We're getting way down the rabbit hole literally. And I don't know why the bunny rabbit is associated with eggs. I'm not big on varmint zoology but rabbits don't lay eggs. I don't know how rabbits got caught up in all the egg thing. But that's it. That's another important question to resolve on Easter weekend. It's a great question because we know exactly what it is. Everybody listening to us especially if you're listening in the United States. Everybody listening to us has seen more than their share of rabbits. They're everywhere. They're everywhere and they lay stuff but it's not eggs. You know when rabbits have been around. You're not seeing eggs. You're seeing let's call them pellets. They lay pellets. Lots. Lots. I think they just realize that chickens are very marketable. You can't really like the Easter chicken doesn't land. And chickens are just kind of ugly. Rabbits are kind of cute and it's that simple. And so they took poetic license with the idea eggs rabbits and off we go with Easter. So let us be the first to wish you a happy Easter wherever you may be. Oh according to Discovery News since ancient times. Discovery News that sounds like a highly credible Gary Discovery News sounds like a highly credible news organization almost as credible as PFT since ancient times. Eggs and rabbits have been a symbol of fertility while spring has been a symbol of rebirth. So even though rabbits don't lay eggs the association of these symbols was almost natural. So I didn't realize they needed an adult themes warning for Easter. There's so there's so there's so many thoughts. I'm and I'm not going to share the thoughts that just came through my mind so fine. You go ahead. You go ahead. Oh I'm just safer just to keep that internal dialogue in this particular case. Internal dialogue saves us both puts a different meaning to Good Friday is all I'll say. All right. So let's man that was probably borderline sacrilegious. We weren't discussing before the show started. Why you would say why would you say happy Good Friday to someone given what happened on Good Friday. And I remember being a kid thinking why do they call it Good Friday. What the hell is good about it. But you can't have Sunday without Friday. You can't have the rising without the the execution. And I remember one of the teachers we had in religion class like pointing out just the absurdity of the cross becoming the symbol of Christianity. It's sort of like 2000 years from now a noose or the electric chair being the symbol of a religion. I mean the cross was the implement of execution. There's just like people from those days like if you could get someone from that time and they see people walking around with crosses everywhere they would like what's wrong with you people because it would be like us going 2000 years forward and there's a guillotine hanging around somebody's neck. So anyway exactly that's not sacrilegious because I learned it in religion class and it is an observation. It's an observation about the cross and what it meant at the time that Jesus lived. No you learned it in religion class and you went to Catholic schools just like I did. And the only thing that amazes me because I agree with you the teacher is right. The only thing that amazes me is that the teacher was able to say it in these times that teacher would be canceled by the school fired by the school for just telling an observational truth. So I'm glad that whoever that teacher is whatever the name of that school you went to in West Virginia I'm glad that maybe they didn't know the teacher was talking like this but I'm glad if they did know that they allowed the teacher to say something that was a little off-center but factual. Yeah but it was the 80s they were smoking I mean you know driving without seat belts like it was a different time it was a looser time than the world has changed. I hope that by sharing that observation today I won't be excommunicated but I was that was always a weird thing to fact. We need to move on to Kirk Cousins. He has not been excommunicated from the National Football League. He has found his latest team. It is team number four and you know you mentioned his ability to keep getting paid. He's got career earnings of three hundred and twenty one million before you throw another twenty million onto the pile and I'll get into the details of the contract but it all started for him in 2016 because he he was drafted round four of 2012 the same year that Washington traded up to number two with the Rams to get RG3. Kyle Shanahan was going down memory lane during the mat la fleur. Kyle Shanahan joined interview with Chris and I did what has it been three days ago now this whole week has just been where am I what day is it where am I and when can I retire that's been the theme of this week but the the whole Cousins thing and I remember being stunned when he was drafted in round four by Washington that year. He ended up supplanting Kirk Cousins and after his fourth season 2015 they had to make a decision. They they apply the franchise tag and it was twenty million dollars that year which is I don't know coincidental because that's what he's going to make this year eleven years later but it was twenty million for the franchise tag and they tried to negotiate a long-term deal where they were offering a long-term deal with an average annual value of sixteen million so why the hell would you take that deal for him when you can make twenty well that's you know Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder you put two you know sharp business minds together and you get a 16 million dollar long-term offer for the guy that you've offered twenty million dollars under the franchise tag and and so that was that and then the next year they tagged him at 24 million you get a 20% increase by rule and I remember one of the arguments coming out of Washington at the time is he really eight times better than Colt McCoy who we have for three million this year why are we even tagging him so he was almost a free agent not how close it came but there was at least a conversation in 2017 about not tagging him a second time and not paying him 24 million that year because they were never going to keep him in 2018 by rule it's a 44 increase over your second franchise tag for the third tag for a quarterback it's a 44 increase and by the way he was eight times he was eight times better than Colt McCoy just for the record yeah he is eight times better than Colt McCoy but anyway go ahead but they at least had that thought experiment why are we doing this we could just pay for Colt McCoy three million so anyway goes to Minnesota gets a three-year deal fully guaranteed it was like 90 million dollars made in the highest paid player at the time in the NFL so planting Jimmy Garoppolo who was the highest at 28 five until Kirk came along and then he had extensions in Minnesota until they finally got to the point where he was due to be a free agent they were offering him a year-to-year arrangement he didn't want that he went to Atlanta got the hundred million fully guaranteed got blindsided by Michael Penix Jr arriving with the eighth overall pick which was one of the dumbest moves in recent years not as dumb as DeSean Watson not DeSean Watson trade and contract dumb but to give Kirk Cousins fully guaranteed 90 million for the first two years with another 10 million that vested after the first year and that's the 10 million he's going to carry away with him minus 1.3 again we'll talk about that later but for them to turn around and draft Michael Penix now it's it's a great investment I mean you know Easter egg hunt you've you've concealed the golden egg of Michael Penix because nobody thought well it's like why the hell would they take a quarterback at number eight why would they take they just paid Kirk Cousins they're not taking a quarterback they're seeing off to worry about getting jumped jumped by somebody else great move there it cost you a hundred million dollars minus the 1.3 million in salary that the Raiders gonna pay him this year so that whole thing look it got Terry Faunton no fired it got Rahim Morris fired it got Rich McKay graduated out of the entire Falcons organization and he's now with the holding company so Matt Ryan Ian Cunningham Kevin Sifansky they're all there because of the Cousins Penix debacle and Penix is still there I don't know how much longer I don't know he's under contract two more years but Cousins clearly gone now and landing with the Las Vegas Raiders so that's how he got to 321 it all started simply because the commanders not the commanders at the time the Washington franchise at the time made him an offer he couldn't accept and he went year to year under the franchise tag and it worked out for him perfectly yeah look all jokes aside about Kirk Cousins who right there you see it is just behind just behind Aaron Rodgers and the runaway leader who was the number one overall pick in the draft Matthew Stafford at 408 million so that makes it even better hey Aaron Rodgers is the first round pick Matthew Stafford number one overall and we know Brady and Wilson you know six and third round respectively but Kirk Cousins has really done a good job of making money but beyond that he's a good he is a good NFL quarterback who has taken advantage of every opportunity or every mistake that management has made and ownership has made and use it to his advantage and I think it's a good signing Mike for the Raiders I think he is I think he's probably right now they if they if they put out a depth chart and we just all assume that they're going to draft Fernando Mendoza they put out a depth chart today with Mendoza in the mix I think they'd have Cousins one Mendoza two or three they may even have another quarterback ahead of Mendoza I think the idea is they don't the Raiders actually want to get it right you would think that this franchise has drafted a lot of quarterbacks it has not in the first round this is not a franchise known for developing quarterbacks this is a franchise known for getting quarterbacks at odd times and seeing what does this guy have anything left can we you know put him with our other misfits that's what the old Raiders were and we put him with our other misfits and get something out of them so I like the idea of bringing in Kirk Cousins probably for a year maybe for two but I think one year to just kind of ease the the transition from college to the pros for Mendoza as the number one pick I think it's a really really good signing for the Raiders it is amazing though because even before the Raiders had Kirk Cousins on the radar screen as far as anyone knew and I didn't expect that I thought Cousins would would wait longer and that's what we heard earlier this week that he's going to take his time a prominent insider whose name I won't mention lest I I end up getting called out on Twitter again he's going to take his time is in no hurry March 31 he's going to take his time doesn't need to rush no urgency he's got plenty of options and I was surprised this week when Sean McVay told us in Arizona that Kirk Cousins he like it at Kirk Cousins as an alternative to Jimmy Garoppolo is the backup to Matthew Stafford the Packers had interest in Kirk Cousins there were only two starting jobs potentially available to him the Cardinals I thought maybe they would be interested and the Steelers if Aaron Rodgers doesn't end up back in Pittsburgh now maybe this move reflects knowledge by Kirk Cousins and or his agent that Aaron Rodgers is indeed going to return to Pittsburgh and I don't know what the etiquette is among veteran quarterbacks on the wrong side of 35 but I don't think it would be unreasonable for Kirk Cousins to pick up the phone and call Aaron Rodgers they know each other from their time and it wasn't many years but it was 18 19 20 21 22 I mean it's five years it's five years they were home and home rivals every year with the Packers and the Vikings Cousins calls up Rodgers assuming Rodgers isn't and is home in Malibu where you know the cell service for whatever reason is non-existent but call them up and say hey look I mean they they're kind of interested in me in Pittsburgh but it all hinges on what you're going to do and I've got other options can you just let me know I won't tell anybody just let me know if you're going because if you are I'm going to I'm going to go elsewhere and I think that you got to at least do that due diligence because I believe that Kirk Cousins should have been would have been could have been on the radar screen in Pittsburgh if you can't get Aaron Rodgers I'd have preferred sorry Aaron I'd have preferred Kirk Cousins Aaron Rodgers in Pittsburgh so that may be an indication but that this Rodgers things have done deal in Pittsburgh well I would say well I don't I don't know I'll just say this Mike it might be tough because I agree with you at this at this stage you know Aaron Rodgers versus Kirk Cousins at least it's a toss up believe shockingly it's a toss up only because Aaron Rodgers doesn't like getting hit no Aaron Rodgers will bail out before he gets hit whereas Kirk Cousins will hang in there and you know hang in the pocket and still play the position the way that a lot of coaches like it to be played for guys who are not all that mobile and Aaron Rodgers is not that mobile at this stage of his career but I think also politically I don't know Mike McCarthy could get away with that Mike McCarthy talking with Kirk Cousins when Aaron Rodgers is still a possibility I don't know I don't know if he can do it I mean I think that's one place so on the field it makes sense but when you consider the people involved McCarthy as a head coach Rodgers waiting in the wings maybe told Pittsburgh hey give me some time then all of a sudden he hears that they're having conversations with Kirk Cousins that could get a little messy especially if the Steelers say well if we look at both of these quarterbacks yeah we give the slight advantage to Rodgers it's not like they look at Cousins and say he is clearly a major upgrade over Aaron Rodgers I don't think they look at it that way so take the Steelers out and you're right and the Jets are out of it they got Gino so it's the Cardinals and I still look at it I think it's the person I think it's Raiders for a starting job because Mike yeah if you just look at it as a program would you rather be program-wise would you rather be with the Raiders or would you rather be with the Rams come on you'd be with the Rams it's a better program would you rather be with the Raiders or would you rather be with the Packers the Packers better program but maybe what Clint Kubiak sold him on is oh yeah we look at you as a starting quarterback in year one and there are no guarantees beyond that but in year one we want to bring our franchise quarterback along slowly we don't want to overwhelm him you know how that is you're you're a good in the quarterback room this is your job for a year and I think that made it attractive for him we don't know and I haven't seen that there's been any commitment made that he's the guy for a year the fact that cousins would take the deal now the fact that just two days after we were told he's gonna take his time he's in no hurry something must have caused him now once bitten twice shy he got burned two years ago in atlanta and he wasn't happy about it one of the compelling moments of his second stint on the quarterback series was him talking about getting blindsided by the Falcons and not being happy about the fact that they used that eighth overall pick in the draft not on somebody who would help the Falcons perform better during Kirk Cousins time there but his eventual replacement and I just remember how clunky that was there was a suggestion that Michael Pentax would sit behind Kirk Cousins for three or four years I think it even suggested five years at one point which like you say it's that's the full contract for Michael Pentax as a rookie plus the fifth year option he's gonna sit there for five years are you kidding me it ended up being 14 games plus he's an older quarterback four yeah yeah the whole thing was just the feedback was there is no one in the organization who is engaging in strategic thought mckay font no morris collectively or individually there is no strategic thought that is happening there is no strategic planning that is occurring because you don't do this you don't pay a hundred million dollars to Kirk Cousins and then follow it up by bringing in a top 10 quarterback who immediately starts the clock ticking on the tenure of Kirk Cousins that's what's so beautiful about this now where Cousins is going in clear eye knowing that you know unless they pull a Michael Vick surprise like the Chargers did 25 years ago my god it's been 25 years but unless they do something like that it's going to be Fernando Mendoza Kirk Cousins and how long does Kirk Cousins hold off Fernando Mendoza when do the Raiders make that change it's not like they have any reason to expect to be competitive this year and let's just kind of stabilize the organization let's just try to settle this thing down and you got a guy who steps right in and based on how he was playing down the stretch won four games in a row to cap the season with the Falcons beat the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay in prime time great game great performance from Kirk Cousins beat the Rams on a Monday night look great in that one Cousins seemed to be back to his old self now there was some saying well there isn't as much zip on the ball and maybe he's done but you know what if he is done for Nato Mendoza gets accelerated and they both they both will potentially be playing this year I would bet on both playing at some point in 2026 I I don't expect Cousins to be wire to wire I don't expect Mendoza to be week one and carry it through we're going to see both of those guys this year and you know the Raiders are still very much a work in progress Michael but you would you would you bet on Mendoza being the starter would you bet on Cousins being the starter let's say this first game of the season game one who do you think is under center if they are under center and not in shotgun but who would you say the starting quarterback for the Raiders is first game of the 2026 season I think it's Cousins I think it's Cousins I don't think Cousins does that deal on April 2nd yep if he's not getting a clear commitment and he had every reason regardless of whether or not he called Aaron Rodgers to say hey what are you gonna do at every reason to ask the question when the Raiders come calling Kirk Cousins are you messing with me here I've been here look I'm the last guy you want to mess with here are you bringing me to be the backup or you're bringing me to start we want you to tell me what my status is what's the over under on when I'll likely be sent to the bench so but he still could have waited and he could have waited to be the potential backup with the Rams he could have been a backup with a better team a team with greater prospects one criticism that I've seen of Kirk Cousins making this decision instead of going to a place where he might cap his career with a Super Bowl ring he's going to a place where he he's chasing the the biggest pile of money he's looking for the golden egg and he got more from the Raiders than he would have gotten from anyone else that that's the motivation and and I'm so fully supported if that's the motivation but that may be the motivation all right the motivation might be money even though he's got plenty of it we saw the chart but the motivation might just be an opportunity to play he's still a competitive quarterback his viable quarterback so you mentioned he did pretty well down the stretch for Atlanta when he was forcing the service I mean he had lost the job to Michael Pinnick's Pinnick's gets hurt they put Cousins back in there and he looks pretty good so maybe he thought hey I'm not in the I'm not in the wise you know sage veteran quarterback stage of my life yet I still have something to give I want to play and as much as I'd like to win a Super Bowl and get a ring I want to it's more important to play I don't want to be a backup watching Matthew Stafford or watching Jordan Love I want to be a part of it I want to start and lead the team week to week the other thing that that could have stood out to him a little bit and you know the most recent the most recent season Clint Kubiak can pound his chest along with anybody else or at a higher level than anybody else I'm saying you know hey I know how to deal with veteran quarterbacks do you see what I did with Sam Darnold last year you didn't think Sam Darnold would ever be a Super Bowl champion well I had something to do with that so he can offer at least a temporary starting job for Kirk Cousins and he can tell him that he has an understanding of what it's like to be a veteran quarterback who has not always been placed in great situations is the Raiders is the Raiders situation a great one even with their free agency signings no but they're probably at least Kubiak knows where the holes are and where the improvements need to be made and everywhere very open everywhere except tight-ended defensive yeah I know but except and center hey they did pretty well they did pretty well with center and I think actually their offensive line may bringing lenderbaugh men was huge for them and I actually like Colton Miller a great deal at tackle so they've got some more work to do up the middle on the offensive line but they're I can see what they're doing they made some really I thought they had a solid offseason all things considered considering how much they needed and how much they still need they made they made decisions that make a lot of sense for them the Cousins contract now before we get to the niceties Gary has a trivia question he's labeled it unnecessary trivia isn't it all unnecessary isn't trivia okay isn't trivia unnecessary isn't that what the word means it is trivial all right so here is some unnecessary unnecessaries as it relates to the highest earners of all time and if you're throwing the 10 million that Kirk Cousins already has in hand from the Falcons and again we'll talk about that coming up 3 31 for him that puts him third behind Aaron Rogers at 395 Matthew Stafford at 408 coming in at number four is Tom Brady 317 Russell Wilson 315 so who is the first non quarterback on that list who's the highest earning non quarterback in NFL history do you know do you have a guess I need to think about it I need to fill a buster so my brain can engage because I don't know who it is dad is a great question that's a great question because it would have to be so I because my first thought Mike and we can filibuster together my first thought is it's somebody who played a defensive player who played for 18 to 20 years something like that but the guys that come to mind played in an era where they weren't making as much money as they are right now you got it I know who it is I thought Bruce Smith and that's wrong who is it I know who it is because well because it's got to be somebody who's played recently because the numbers keep going up so it's got to be somebody who has played recently is still playing plays a high value position and is played for a long time and is still due to make 32 million this year Trent Williams final answer Gary give it to me Trent Williams Trent Williams yes bang wow yes man that's you know when I get one of those wrong my attitude is who cares when I get it right I am Spartacus baby and I thought and I thought I could I would have sworn it was a defensive player I never would have thought I didn't think it was a wide receiver or or or back but I wasn't thinking offensive lineman yes Trent Williams and Trent Williams is still trying to keep that Gary says San Francisco is hooked me up Gary seems seems depressed that that that I got it right or maybe he's depressed that he used to be a member of the Washington franchise and they they ultimately pissed him off remember he and this just kind of got forgotten he had some sort of malignancy on his head that they misdiagnosed and yeah had him playing with this thing on his head and that would tend to that would tend to undermine the employment relationship if when you have doctors swarming all over the place and a guy's got a tumor on his scalp that has a helmet on it all the time and nobody bothers to say we should check that not you should get that checked we can check it we're doctors we're here oh sorry about that sorry about our malpractice okay so um here's the way the contract work because I just said yesterday when I did the video after the news broke the Kirk cousins had picked the Raiders well let's see what he's going to get because he's not going to get the 1.3 that we saw Russell Wilson get from the Steelers two years ago that Tua Tonga-Villow is getting from the Falcons this year that Kyler Murray is getting from the Vikings because those guys had guarantees from their former teams that far exceeded their market value Kirk Cousins market value is in excess of 10 million so he's not going to take 8.7 million from the Falcons and 1.3 million from the Raiders and call it a day he's not going to do that and he's doing it but he's not doing it they figured out a loophole and it's one of those loopholes that seems way too obvious and way too convenient and you'll wonder whether or not Kyler Murray's agent wishes he had thought of this now Kyler Murray's agent was able to negotiate very important term no tag clause for next year so whatever Murray does this year he's got a straight shot the free agency and get paid next year what Cousins got was a 10 million dollar fully guaranteed roster bonus for 2027 it seems to it's like one of those you know technical arguments that a kid makes to get around is grounding to get like or whatever like the golden egg rules whatever the golden egg rules are in the Holly household one of your kids comes up with this hyper technical way to justify spying on you as you were hiding the golden egg it just feels weird I know that kid yeah and I and I wonder and I wonder and I wonder if the Falcons are going to do anything about it so I saw somebody raise on Twitter today I think it was Albert Brear I wonder if the owners will close the loophole I would have assumed this loophole is already closed this seems too simple it's too simple of a way to circumnavigate this whole offset concept so the Falcons are on the hook for 10 Cousins wants 20 the Raiders don't want to pay him 20 so how do we do this how do we do this and still stick the Falcons for another 8.7 million on top of the 90 million they've already paid him how can we do this oh we got it here we got it we'll just pay you 10 this year but we'll promise you 10 next year and we'll pay you that 10 but we'll only have to pay you 1.3 of this 10 if I'm the Falcons I'm pissed now it could be that the same thing happens to the Raiders next year right because cousins could be a free agent next year and the Raiders own him 10 and he could go somewhere else and that team pays him the minimum the Raiders pay the rest and that team pays him another 10 the following year this could be this cascading row row row your boat of 10 million dollar option bonuses with the new team ultimately paying the minimum salary in the first year for as long as Kirk Cousins continues to find employment I just don't like it I don't like the concept I'm not saying the Raiders are doing anything wrong I'm just saying they shouldn't be allowed to do it the league should say no you can't you no no no no no no the Falcons are entitled to the full 10 million they they you you don't listen no he's getting he's getting 10 million this year he's getting 20 million this year you the file or whatever it is 11.3 million we're treating it as now this could hurt the player but I my preference is the Raiders got to pay the 20 the Raiders pay the full 20 period not that Cousins only gets 11.3 the Raiders pay the full 20 you're right look Mike it is a loophole and the loophole will be taken care of because I think a lot of people will complain about it and they'll say this is not right and they'll change it but isn't this a lesson when I read your excellent post yesterday you know my first thought is I can't wait to talk to Mike about this tomorrow my first thought was shed no tears then now we look at what the Raiders did it was pretty smart on their part it's there they didn't break any rules they saw a way I never should have said I love it I know what's coming and I love it but shed no tears for the Raiders okay shed no tears for the Raiders in his Max Crosby situation because this is what it tells you about the NFL they're all brutal they're brutal and they will so from afar they'll say oh that's not right what the Ravens did to them that's not right that's not the spirit of it and not all but most general managers if they could if they were in that situation and they saw something better they might do it that's that's the nature of this sport it is tough I I realized that years ago and I wonder if these guys remember it I mean statute of limitations is up but years ago I was working on a book on the Patriots Falcons and Chiefs and at the time you know Scott Piolli was the general manager of the Chiefs Thomas DeMittroff was the general manager of the Falcons and Bill Belichick was with the Patriots so DeMittroff and Piolli were on the phone with each other during a draft or you know they would comment on each other's draft picks they comment on picks throughout the league and at one point Piolli drafts Justin Houston I think Houston went to Georgia pass rusher I think and Thomas looks at me and goes well he well he what well I can't I was going to draft him he told me he wouldn't do that because Houston had some character issues he said he told me he wasn't going to draft anybody like that what is that well you know what that is it was Piolli looking at a really talented player saying hey it's the third or fourth round I could take some chances even with they were buddies they exchanged information but they're competitive in a brutally competitive sport and so hey if you're not going to do it I'm probably going to do it but I'm going to do it because I know you'll do it too so the Raiders the Ravens the Steelers the Chiefs they're all in the same competitive pool Mike and sometimes things happen that will hurt your feelings but their their mentality is I'd rather it happened to you I'd rather your feelings be hurt than mine so I'll take care of the business first and that's such a great point I wish I thought of it because one of the things that I said as all of the various unnamed executives from other teams were privately wagging a finger without attaching their names to it to the various insiders and reporters who were rushing to Twitter and elsewhere to do the bidding of these folks this is part of the quid pro quo like when one of your sources is unhappy about something and they load you up with a strong opinion you've got they wind you up and you go you know the little pink bunny with the drum you go very fitting you go and you spread to the world this thing that you're your source who you're counting on to give you other stuff that's far more useful to your career I mean I see it a million miles away and again when you talk about how the sausages made the folks with their hands on the meat grinder get upset I don't care that's what was happening and it was like wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute at the end of the day they're all going to apply the rules to their advantage at the end of the day wouldn't they all have done what the ravens did when you've got two first-round picture investing in a guy who shows up with a knee that gives you concern and as you're trying to figure out what to do about this guy's knee another premier player at the same position who overpriced himself and wasn't snatched on the first day of free agency like a golden egg in Michael Holly's backyard that guy's still available and you're doing the math 28 million a year on a four-year deal for Trey Hendrickson versus 29 million a year on a four-year deal for a guy who's going to want more and we're going to have to give up two first-round picks to get him and we're worried about this knee and there's no rule that requires us to follow through on this trade we can get out of it for any reason we want we don't even we don't even need a pretext we can just say change our mind caveat emptor so yeah don't feel bad for the raiders because the raiders affirmatively state for the let's put it this way and all the raiders fans are going to be mad at me but let's put it this way people were pissed at the ravens for making a prudent decision when all evidence was available to them how dare you do that the raiders specifically came up with a scheme to stick the falcons with 8.7 million dollars they specifically calculated a way to screw the falcons out of 8.7 million dollars and it's apparently within the rules but again don't feel bad for the raiders don't feel bad for the raiders because this is what this is how it works it's like Kyle Shanahan said when he's sitting with us with matla floor and talking about how this is fraternity and they get along and Shanahan looked at me straight in the eyes he said yeah but i still want to cut his throat that's how it works right that's right hey don't hey don't fall asleep around me don't fall asleep yeah who knows we're not just putting your hand in a bowl of warm water if you fall asleep yeah we're not just we're not just putting shaving cream on your palm and getting a feather and tickling your nose we're not just doing that if you fall asleep and Mike can't you see the raiders doing so the raiders say well they could justify it this way yeah it's one we didn't break the rule and two we didn't really want to do it but the ravens made us do it because we made free agent decisions thinking that Max Crosby was out and then when that trade was rescinded now we get all these free agents and we want to honor all these deals so we have to they made us do this we have to be creative in our contracts because we didn't think we'd have these we didn't think we'd have the Max Crosby contract back on our book so we got to do things like this sorry like most teams most teams and they have an opportunity to kind of go right up to the edge of what is acceptable and what is permissible they'll go right up to the edge and it's such a great metaphor the the reference you may don't fall asleep around me because you know the sleepover is this magical thing where your buddies get together and we're all having a good time but beware don't be the first one to fall asleep because they're gonna mess with you if you do they are gonna put your hand in a bowl of warm water to see if it's true that you'll piss your pants sorry London if that happens they are they are gonna go get dead shaving cream or mom's shaving cream is the case may be I mean you know they shave their legs the pink can like the Easter Bunny and they're gonna put it in your hand and they're gonna they're gonna find a feather or something to tickle your nose and see if you scratch your face and put shaving cream all over your face so they'll do that sounds like you've done some of this stuff I have I have and and and I've always made sure I was well caffeinated before I showed up so anyway all right we need to take right one first segment do not fall asleep you'll miss the golden egg too if you fall asleep okay so it's Friday it's PFT live I haven't even mentioned what the show is I feel sorry for anybody it's been listening for most of the last hour wondering what the hell are these two guys talking about we'll continue to you know cause that same reaction for you if you stick around when we return Mark Davis addressing the number one overall pick which we now assume is going to be Fernando Mendoza but with the Raiders who knows it's next on PFT live