NFL trade deadline winners and losers: Cousins returns to Minnesota, Bengals get an F

The biggest name to move at Tuesday's NFL trade deadline was a quarterback going back to where he used to play. The Minnesota Vikings reacquired Kirk Cousins from the Las Vegas Raiders for a 2027 third-round pick, according to CBS Sports. AP and ESPN also ran the trade on their deadline coverage, and ESPN reported that the Raiders named rookie Fernando Mendoza their starter after the deal.

Cousins: a placeholder leaves, a rookie starts

CBS describes Cousins as a placeholder starter in Las Vegas, where he went 4-5 with 20 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Mendoza is expected to start in Week 10 against Seattle, and CBS says he was not told until Tuesday. CBS gave the Raiders an A for the deal, noting they received a pick in the top 100 and were likely headed to Mendoza anyway. Minnesota got a B-: the grade turns on whether average-to-slightly-above-average quarterback play can carry a team with a strong defense toward a Super Bowl run.

That framing is the real read of the trade. Minnesota is not buying a star. It is buying a steadier floor for an offense CBS says has struggled, at the price of a mid-round pick.

The ranking: Cousins first, Simmons second

CBS's ranking of all 18 in-season deals puts the Cousins trade first and Chicago's acquisition of Tennessee defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons second, calling him already a game-changer for the Bears. The rest of the top five:

Jacksonville appears twice in the top four. We covered that sequence in detail in Jaguars pay a 2027 first and a 2029 second for Eagles DT Jordan Davis. Further down CBS lists Seattle's Quenton Nelson trade at No. 9, Dallas's Joey Porter Jr. at No. 10, Kansas City's Josh Downs at No. 11 and Houston's Marvin Harrison Jr. deal (a second- and a fifth-round pick to Arizona) at No. 14.

Winners and losers by grade

In its team-by-team grades, CBS gave As to the Raiders, the Eagles (a first- and a second-round pick from Jacksonville for Davis) and the Bears. Its headline says four teams earned an A; the fourth was not visible in the portion of the page we could read, so we are not naming one.

The losers were stark. CBS gave the Chargers a D-. They are 0-8, made one small move (sending linebacker Daiyan Henley to Denver) and the writer asks why Khalil Mack is still on the roster. The Rams were also listed among the disappointments in the headline; we could not read their section.

The Bengals and the compensatory pick

The Bengals got CBS's only F. The outlet reports that Cincinnati tried on deadline day to acquire edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie from the Eagles, but the deal fell through after the team realized it would lose its 2027 third-round compensatory pick, and the Bengals made no moves. We could only find this account at CBS, so treat it as that outlet's reporting. The mechanics behind it are why it matters: compensatory picks are awarded to teams that lose more notable free agents than they sign, so a trade for a player on a free-agent contract can erase the pick a team was counting on.

What it means

For Minnesota, the question is simple: does Cousins lift an offense enough to matter in January? For Las Vegas, the season is now about Mendoza. Follow the rest of the week on our NFL schedule and NFL scores pages.

Sources: CBS Sports NFL (trade deadline ranking, Cousins trade grades, team-by-team grades); AP and ESPN headlines for the Cousins trade and Mendoza start. Grades and rankings are CBS Sports' opinions, not ours.