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Former Raiders GM says Las Vegas played QB situation 'perfectly'

The NFL world has been buzzing since Tuesday about the Raiders and Vikings swinging a trade that sent QB Kirk Cousins to Minnesota for a third round pick. With the Raiders not looking like they're going anywhere this season, it has essentially the best case scenario for Cousins.

I had been saying that Cousins was the perfect addition to this team since they made the deal back in March, and getting something for him in trade at the deadline had long been what I predicted would happen.

It just seemed like such a no-brainer move to make that it was almost shocking to see the Raiders actually pull it off. And I'm talking from start to finish. From landing him as a free agent, to having him start over Fernando Mendoza, allowing the rookie to learn the ropes behind him, to making the trade to net a third round pick and send Cousins to a contender.

Well, I'm not the only one who felt that way. Former Raiders GM Tom Telesco felt it too. The long time NFL GM appeared on the LA radio show to give the Raiders regime that succeeded him their flowers for how they made all this happen.

“I think they played this quarterback transition period perfectly," Telesco said of the Raiders. "And they had a plan going in. 
They talked about the plan right after they drafted Fernando Mendoza as far as how they're going to approach this season. And they stuck to the plan. And believe me, from someone who has worked there, that hasn't always been the case. 
So right now they had a plan, they totally stuck to it, and it's worked out perfectly.

"Kirk Cousins was the perfect quarterback to bring in to kind of bridge the gap. He's a great teammate. 
He's a true pro. He's a great mentor for Fernando, so he plays the 1st half year, actually played at a much higher level than I thought he would. He played very well for them early in the year. 
And now they can trade him to the Vikings and get a third round pick. Not to mention, he's got a $10 million roster bonus that's guaranteed in March. 
So now that comes off the Raiders books.

"And now you got Fernando who developed organically into this for the 2nd half of the season and get a chance to play, which is, from a fan standpoint, like, we're all just waiting for Fernando to play. We all want to watch him play. 
We want to see him develop. It was just a matter of time when it was going to happen. But I just think their plan just worked out exactly the way they had hoped it would."

Telesco was coming off 11 years as the GM of the Chargers when he was hired on in Las Vegas. He got a bit of a raw deal with the Raiders as he was asked to manage the Antonio Pierce experience and all the dysfunction that came with it. Obviously that was a less than ideal arrangement and he was out after just a year on the job. But among the things Telesco is credited with are the drafting of current Raiders standout players Brock Bowers, DJ Glaze, and Dylan Laube.

And we'll always have that lovely training camp in Southern California.

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