Only a couple of quarterbacks were moved at the NFL trade deadline. The Arizona Cardinals sent Jacoby Brissett to the Baltimore Ravens, who are hoping to hold down the fort while both Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley are out.
The biggest move involved former Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, who was traded by the Las Vegas Raiders to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a third-round draft pick.
A third for a player Cousins' age is a pretty awesome return, so you can hardly blame the Raiders for the move - which also frees up No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza to start going forward - beginning with the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
The Vikings gave up a lot of capital to get him back in the fold, but you need only have watched a few seconds of Monday
night's loss to the Buffalo Bills to see why they made the deal.
With Kyler Murray battling injuries and Carson Wentz clearly broken at this late stage of his career, Minnesota needed a quarterback to complement their elite defense and stay afloat in an all-time brutal NFC North race.
According to ESPN, the deal makes Cousins one of the NFL's biggest winners at the deadline.
"...Cousins isn't just reuniting with pals, though. He's joining a 6-2 Vikings team powered by the league's best and most unique defense. The bar for Cousins -- who is 38 years old and doesn't have as big of an arm as he used to -- has simply never been lower. Carson Wentz's Monday night performance against the Bills dropped it to the floor. As long as Cousins can keep the offense on schedule and manage the time-of-possession battle, Minnesota's defense can win multiple playoff games. It's that dangerous of a group..."
Cousins has had a resurgent year under Klint Kubiak, but things did not work out so well for him in Atlanta - at least on the field. While he managed to collect an ungodly amount of money from the Falcons, Cousins went just 12-10 during his run in Atlanta, totaling 5,229 yards, 28 touchdowns and 21 interceptions - coming out to an 87.2 passer rating - well below his career mark of 96.8.
This year Cousins has proven he still has something left in the tank, though. In nine games with the Raiders he went 4-5, posting 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 97.1 passer rating.
The moral of the story is that playcalling matters - and Cousins is re-joining an offense uniquely suited to his talents.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: ESPN: Former Falcons QB among biggest trade deadline winners
