Raiders Get Tom Brady’s No-Nonsense Prep Tip Revealed by Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins is poised to be the starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2026. The veteran joined the franchise after he was released by the Atlanta Falcons in the off-season.

Despite the Raiders having drafted No. 1 overall Fernando Mendoza in the 2026 NFL Draft, Cousins is slated to take the starting job, though no official announcement has been made. He recently talked about what one former legendary quarterback told the team.

Kirk Cousins reveals Tom Brady's message about Raiders' preparation

During a recent press conference , Cousins talked about the team's preseason preparation approach. He revealed that legendary NFL quarterback and Raiders minority owner Tom Brady shared a message with the team regarding their preseason preparations. The New England Patriots legend said that every team does preseason, and that it is the minimal thing to do.

Cousins said, "It's been a productive training camp and a productive preseason. But as Tom Brady said when he spoke to us, one of many good things he told us, everybody has training camp, and everybody has preseason games. To think that you're somehow getting ahead of everyone else just because you went out to practice is a mistake. There is no edge there, because everybody else is doing that too."

The Raiders are doing their best to prepare for the 2026 season and are looking to move on from a poor 2025 season. One of the key decisions the franchise has taken is to make Cousins the starter instead of Mendoza. The decision is to let Mendoza learn from the veteran, and prepare him for the future, which earlier won the approval of former NFL star Jason Kelce .

Brady had previously emphasized that players must work hard on his Instagram Story. He said , "Preseason… Regular season… I never wanted to be taken off the field. Practice makes perfect… Too many people looking for easy ways out these days. When you're a football player, and it's football season, your job is to play football."

Cousins had also talked about how one call from Brady changed his life.

Kirk Cousins reveals Tom Brady convinced him to join Raiders

In an appearance on "Good Morning Football", Cousins revealed that Brady convinced him to join the Raiders through a FaceTime call. He said , "You know me, I'm going to do my homework before I sign somewhere. So, I had a lot of conversations with people here and there with the Raiders' organization."

He added, "One of those conversations was with Tom. I texted him and asked him to call me when he could. He actually FaceTimed me. I was at youth baseball practice. So, I stepped away and just FaceTimed with Tom for a little bit, just to get on the same page and the vision for the organization and kind of what he saw ahead and if I would be a good fit for it or not."

The quarterback dubbed that exchange a life-giving call and shared that it eventually inspired him to join the Raiders.

Cousins continued, "I got off the call, and I called my wife and I said, 'That was a really life-giving call with Tom.' He gets it. He's been where I've been, and then some. I think he understands what it needs to look like and what it will look like. I really felt a shot in the arm after talking with him and I felt that was a big nudge for me to come to Vegas."

Kirk Cousins will now prepare for the next season, with much expectations on him.