Cousins returns to Vikings with a midseason touchdown milestone
NBC Sports research identifies him as the first quarterback to switch teams during a season with 20 touchdown passes already recorded.
Kirk Cousins has rejoined Minnesota in a trade after recording 20 touchdown passes across nine games with the Raiders. According to NBC Sports research, no quarterback had previously changed teams midseason after reaching that mark.
Cousins enters his first game back with the Vikings ranked second in the league in touchdown passes. The placement of the teams’ bye weeks means he could play as many as 18 games this season.
The return comes three years after his last Vikings appearance, when he tore an Achilles tendon in Week 8 of the 2023 season. He had passed for 274 yards and two touchdowns in that game. Across his six seasons in Minnesota, Cousins accumulated 23,265 passing yards and 171 touchdown passes, ranking fourth in the league in both categories over that span.
Minnesota is trying to end a two-game losing streak. Receiver Jordan Addison will be absent because of a thumb injury, while Justin Jefferson is available. In Cousins’s last complete game for Minnesota, against the 49ers, Addison caught seven passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
