Las Vegas Raiders’ veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins was held back from training on Saturday after a scuffle with defensive end Maxx Crosby on Friday. As a result of Cousins’ absence, 2026 NFL Draft No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza took all the first-team reps during Saturday’s practice session.
LeSean McCoy Blasts Kirk Cousins for Training Camp Fight
During Monday’s segment of the “Speakeasy” podcast, two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy dissected the fight and speculated that Cousins does not command any respect in the Raiders’ dressing room.
“It’s only one thing that tells me about this, if it’s true, it’s time for Kirk to retire,” McCoy said. “The number one rule: you don’t touch the quarterback. But when the quarterback is old, and he’s weak, it’s like, I don’t even have no respect for him. And if your team doesn’t have no respect for you, what are we doing? So I truly think if you’re hitting the quarterback, you don’t respect them.”
“If we touching the quarterback, I don’t respect you because you probably weak,” McCoy added. “Because Kirk ain’t doing nothing bad. I’m sure he works hard, he’s on time… The defensive guys I’ve been around, when the quarterback’s weak, they ain’t stopping. What, are we gonna miss you when you get hurt? Like, Come on.”
The Raiders’ defensive end reportedly hit Cousins twice during the team period on Friday, causing the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback to grab Crosby’s jersey and exchange words before the scuffle was broken up.
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At the start of training camp, Crosby revealed that the coaching staff had specifically warned him against touching the quarterback.
Cousins spent two seasons in Atlanta battling for the QB1 position with Michael Penix Jr. before being released at the start of the free agency period this year. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cousins signed “a five-year, $172 million deal with the Raiders that in reality is a one-year, fully-guaranteed $20 million deal that also contains a club option for two years at $80M.”
While speaking to reporters after Saturday’s practice session, Raiders coach Klint Kubiak weighed in on Cousins’ fight with Crosby.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business, and we violated that yesterday, so [we] held those guys out,” Kubiak said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it. We addressed it with the team, and we’re moving on.”
In 10 games played for the Falcons last season, including eight starts, Cousins tallied 1,721 passing yards on 61.7% completion, 10 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. He earned a PFN QB Impact score of 73.1, ranking 24th in the league.
