The Raiders have found their franchise quarterback in Fernando Mendoza, but how long will they wait to put their rookie quarterback on the field?
As of now, the consensus seems to be that Kirk Cousins will be the starter in week 1 and potentially for most of the season.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers believes the schedule offers a nice “runway” for Mendoza to get his first start on December 13 against the Chargers in the first of three consecutive home games followed by a road game against the Cardinals.
It’s all speculation, of course, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter seems to be in agreement that the Raiders will wait until December to put Mendoza on the field.
“Four road games in November for the Las Vegas Raiders. I think they’re going to want Kirk Cousins to start the season and if you’re going to want to turn to Fernando Mendoza, the number one overall pick, at some point in time, I don’t know that you’re going to want to do it in November when you have to go play four road games,” Schefter said on the Adam Schefter Podcast.
“That’s not a great time to have to go to your rookie quarterback if they haven’t gone to him by then. So, we could be seeing Kirk Cousins up until about December 1.”
Safe to say, December is still far away and the decision on Mendoza will come down to plenty of factors outside of the schedule.
The reality is there is no soft-landing spot on the Raiders’ schedule for more than a week.
And if Mendoza ends up outplaying Cousins in the preseason, will the decision makers in Las Vegas (no doubt Tom Brady will be involved in the decision) stay committed to keeping their no. 1 pick on the sideline?
It’s complex situation because the Raiders would love to start their veteran quarterback as long as possible (especially if they are winning), but most would agree Mendoza needs to be on the field this year.
One detail everyone can agree on, though, is that the team shouldn’t even consider turning the keys over to Mendoza until they have the offensive situation figured out and have that group performing a lot better than they did a year ago.
x: @raidersbeat