Kirk Cousins is on the verge of making NFL history. The quarterback has an unprecedented opportunity to play an 18-game regular season, something no other signal-caller has ever done. It’s a wild scenario that came together through a mid-season trade, putting Cousins in a league of his own, at least among QBs.
The Unbelievable Path to 18 Games
How does a player end up with 18 games when the regular season is only 17? It all comes down to bye weeks and a trade. Cousins kicked off the season with the Raiders, starting nine games for them. Here’s the kicker: the Raiders had not had their bye week yet when he was traded. Now, he’s with the Vikings, who *have* already had their bye week and have nine games remaining on their schedule. If Cousins suits up for every single one of those Vikings games, he’ll hit the 18-game mark. Think about that: a full extra game, just because of how the schedule and the trade aligned. It’s absolutely bonkers.
An Elite, But Rare, Modern Feat
While Cousins is set to be the first quarterback to pull this off, he won’t be the first player in the modern era to hit 18 regular season games. Since the NFL expanded to a 17-game season spread over 18 weeks in 2021, four other players have managed this unique feat. Rashid Shaheed and Dre’Mont Jones did it in 2025. Mike Williams accomplished it in 2024, and Leonard Williams in 2023. They all did it the same way: moving from a team that hadn’t had its bye to one that already had. The actual NFL record for games in a season is 19, set by four members of the Frankford Yellow Jackets way back in the 1920s, a team notorious for playing more games than their competition. But in today’s game, 18 is the absolute maximum a player could conceivably play, and Cousins, as a starting QB, is about to own that distinction.
Keep your eyes peeled to see if Cousins can finish out the season healthy and grab this piece of history. It’s a testament to endurance and a super rare alignment of circumstances.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.
Leave a Reply