To no one’s surprise, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that Kirk Cousins is the starting quarterback right now. That doesn’t actually mean much, as the team is still several weeks away from playing real football games.
However, it does show that the Raiders are committed to bringing rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza slowly, at least for now.
“[The Raiders] were telling everyone at the combine that they didn’t want to play Mendoza right away,” a player agent told ESPN’s Dan Graziano. “It wasn’t a surprise when they went out and got Cousins.”
There is logic to giving Mendoza time before giving him the keys to the offense. The Raiders were the worst team in the NFL last season, and while they added a lot of good players this offseason, there’s no guarantee that they’ve improved enough to make a playoff push.
The temptation to play Mendoza will be strong, especially if Cousins gets off to a rough start or gets hurt. Despite that, one coach thinks the Raiders would rather put in Aidan O’Connell than rush Mendoza.
“I honestly believe that if something were to happen to Cousins, they’d start Aidan O’Connell before Mendoza right now,” an AFC assistant coach told ESPN. “They absolutely do not want to rush [Mendoza].”
Why Raiders Want to Start Cousins For Now
The temptation to play Mendoza will be strong. He was the No. 1 pick in the draft and is a big star. Not only will Raiders fans be eager to see him play, but so will football fans across the NFL.
Many teams plan to bring their young quarterbacks along slowly, but the Raiders will have to prove that they can do it.
“A lot of teams say these things about their first-round picks,” Graziano wrote. “The Giants were saying it about Jaxson Dart this time last year. It almost never works out. The Chiefs pulled it off in 2017, starting Alex Smith all season while rookie Patrick Mahomes sat on the bench until a meaningless final-week game. But that team started 5-0 and stayed in first place all season.
“Most teams in the Raiders’ position (like the 2025 Giants, for example) don’t have that kind of success and end up feeling forced to make a change. That could happen to the Raiders this season, but the question is how long they’ll go before they decide it’s time to throw Mendoza in there.”
Mendoza Highly Unlikely to Unseat Cousins Before Week 1
Mendoza has been working hard this offseason, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he looked good in training camp. Even if that’s the case, Graziano is still predicting that Cousins will start for the Raiders in Week 1.
“I don’t think this is a true ‘quarterback competition.’ There could well be a universe in which Mendoza looks so good in camp that the Raiders decide he’s ready Week 1 and that’s their best course of action,” Graziano wrote. “But as of now, the Raiders have a plan for Mendoza, and it does not include starting the first game of his rookie season.”
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