Russell Wilson, Anthony Richardson, Jimmy Garoppolo Landing Spots After Cousins' Raiders Contract

One of the big free-agent quarterback dominos fell on Thursday with Kirk Cousins agreeing to a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Mike McCartney, Cousins' agent, broke the news of the deal.

With Cousins off the board, Russell Wilson and Jimmy Garoppolo are arguably the top two free agents still available. Aaron Rodgers is technically a free agent, but it seems likely he will only play for the Pittsburgh Steelers if he returns in 2026.

Anthony Richardson, meanwhile, remains available after receiving permission from the Indianapolis Colts earlier in the offseason to seek a trade.

Wilson and Garoppolo would be established veteran backups who could step in to start if their number gets called. Richardson would be a team taking a flier on a former first-round pick who will only turn 24 on May 22.

One obvious team in the market for a backup quarterback is the Los Angeles Rams. Other potential fits for at least one of Garoppolo, Wilson or Richardson include the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots.

Los Angeles Rams

AP Photo/Stephen Brashear

The Rams are most directly a potential landing spot for Garoppolo. Head coach Sean McVay was openly campaigning this week for Cousins to sign with them as Matthew Stafford's backup.

In the midst of his campaigning for Cousins, McVay also said the Rams had interest in bringing back Garoppolo after he spent the past two seasons as the No. 2 quarterback on their depth chart.

It would seem likely that Garoppolo will become the focal point for the Rams in their pursuit of a backup.

NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah has floated the Rams as a potential landing spot for Ty Simpson in the draft to give them an heir apparent to Stafford.

If the Rams wanted to take a big swing on a high-upside quarterback who is only seven months older than Simpson, they could make a move for Richardson. He could get time in their system to hone his skill set before potentially getting a chance to start in 2027 if Stafford were to retire.

Sam Darnold spoke about the importance of his one-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers and working with Kyle Shanahan about helping resurrect his career.

A move to the Rams where he could work with McVay and their staff could unlock the potential that made Richardson the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Green Bay Packers

AP Photo

Richardson, in particular, would fit the model of what Green Bay likes to do with the backup quarterback spot.

The Packers drafted Jordan Love in 2020 knowing he was a developmental project who would play behind Aaron Rodgers to start his career.

Prior to the start of the 2024 season, the Packers traded for Malik Willis by sending a seventh-round pick to the Tennessee Titans. Even though he hadn't shown much in his two years with Tennessee, he was regarded as a high-level athlete with excellent arm strength and flashes of good accuracy coming out of Liberty in 2022.

The Packers put in place a system that allowed Willis to thrive when his number was called. He threw for 972 yards, ran for 261 yards and accounted for nine touchdowns in 11 appearances (three starts) over two seasons.

Putting Richardson with head coach Matt LaFleur could go a long way toward helping him hone his skills.

If the Packers would prefer a little more certainty with a quarterback who can play from the pocket, Garoppolo or Wilson might fit the model.

LaFleur is a disciple of the Shanahan and McVay systems, which would make for an easy transition for Garoppolo if he were to join the team.

Wilson would bring the aggressive, big-play element that is a staple of Jordan Love's style of play. No one would argue that Wilson is as good at it anymore as Love, but the ceiling could remain high for the offense with him if Love were to miss time.

New England Patriots

AP Photo/Steven Senne

New England could reunite Wilson and Tommy DeVito after they went through training camp together with the New York Giants last year before DeVito got released.

Wilson is such a difficult player to place anywhere at this point in his career because of how specific his game is and how difficult it is to tailor that to an offense.

The Patriots probably don't fit Wilson, but they are one of only eight teams with two quarterbacks on the roster right now. Some in that group, like the Steelers presumably with Rodgers and Raiders with presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, will add a third later.

Both Garoppolo and Richardson would make sense in New England because of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

McDaniels was Garoppolo's first offensive coordinator in the NFL with the Patriots from 2014 to '17. They reunited in 2023 when McDaniels was head coach of the Raiders and Garoppolo signed with the team to be their starting quarterback.

As a prospect in the 2023 draft, Richardson was often compared to Cam Newton. McDaniels built an offense for Newton during the 2020 season when the Patriots signed the former NFL MVP to be their starter after Tom Brady left to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Even though Newton struggled that season, in part because his body was breaking down from all the punishment he took early in his career, he did have 12 rushing touchdowns in McDaniels' system.

The Patriots could try throwing a dart with Richardson as the backup to Drake Maye. It would at least be interesting to see how McDaniels would use Richardson's skill set if he got called into action.