​Kirk Cousins Trade Grade: Why Vikings Get A+ and Raiders Settle for C-Monday night’s 23-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills made the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback problem impossible to ignore. Less than 24 hours later, they addressed it with a familiar solution.Minnesota acquired Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick, bringing the 38-year-old quarterback back to the franchise he played for from 2018 through 2023.PFN’s NFL Trade Machine gave Minnesota an A+ for the deal and Las Vegas a C-. Jacob Infante agreed with the result. The Vikings found a clear upgrade at the most important position without giving up premium draft capital, while the Raiders moved a productive starting quarterback at a time when Minnesota had very little leverage to hide its desperation.The Vikings Definitely Won the Kirk Cousins TradeMinnesota is 6-2 despite entering the trade deadline with a quarterback situation that had become increasingly difficult to defend.Kyler Murray had already struggled before suffering a hamstring injury. His 69.9 PFN QB Impact score ranks 27th among qualified quarterbacks this season. That left Carson Wentz to start against Buffalo, and the result was one of the worst quarterback performances of the season.Wentz completed eight of 25 passes for 81 yards and two interceptions. His 8.9 passer rating was the lowest by a quarterback with at least 25 attempts since Sam Darnold posted a 3.6 against the New England Patriots in 2019.The Vikings don’t need Cousins to suddenly become one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. They need competent, consistent play from a position that was threatening to waste everything else the roster has done well.“With Cousins, obviously you’re getting a big upgrade at quarterback,” Infante said. “Not particularly elite, and he certainly has physical limitations at this stage of his career. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s the most important position in football.”That upgrade came at the cost of one third-round pick.Minnesota didn’t have to surrender a first or second-round selection. It didn’t have to bet on a quarterback learning Kevin O’Connell’s offense from scratch in November. The Vikings acquired someone who already knows the head coach, the basic structure of the offense, and its best player.That combination makes the price much easier to justify for a team trying to win now.What Kirk Cousins Gives the VikingsCousins has been considerably better this season than the quarterback Minnesota is replacing.Through nine starts for Las Vegas, he completed 64.1% of his passes for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His 80.5 PFN QB Impact score ranks 11th in the league, one spot ahead of Jordan Love and well above Murray.There have been bad games. Cousins threw three interceptions in Sunday’s 38-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. That performance helped accelerate calls in Las Vegas to turn the offense over to rookie Fernando Mendoza.PRE