The Raiders have identified their quarterback of the future in Fernando Mendoza, and the question now is how long will it take to get him on the field?
Every indication has been that the Raiders are committed to taking a patient approach with Mendoza’s development, but for about every fan on the outside, there is a massive appetite for updates on his progress.
There have been press conferences and reports from practices, but what are people in the building saying about Mendoza behind closed doors?
That’s the information another former no. 1 pick in the draft was after this week when David Carr reached out to his former QB coach Mike Sullivan, who is now Mendoza’s QB coach in Las Vegas.
Carr said he wanted to talk to Sullivan about how Mendoza’s development is actually coming along and came away with only good news for Raider fans.
“I talked to Mike Sullivan. [He] is very happy and I think I can speak at this point having talked to Mike Sullivan, I feel really good about Fernando,” Carr said on the Home Grown podcast.
“It’s a process… That’s basically what the conversation was like… [Sullivan] is going to be right there with Fernando every day digging into the work. I already know Sullivan digs into the tape. They’re prepared. That’s one thing they’re going to be is prepared and he’s extremely happy with what’s happening with Fernando. But, like you said, it’s a process. Long way to go, and so that’s all I wanted to find out from him.”
Raiders leaving ‘wiggle room’ on Mendoza’s timeline to start?
The expectation is that Mendoza will spend as much of the season as possible learning behind Kirk Cousins, but is there a chance Mendoza would could work himself to the top of the depth chart early in the season?
According to the California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore, there are people in the Raiders’ building who expect Mendoza to put himself in the running to start right away, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler seemed to support that sentiment last week on ESPN’s NFL Live.
“The expectation is that [Kirk Cousins] is well positioned to be the early season starter,” Fowler said on ESPN’s NFL Live.
“Talking to people in Vegas, they say ‘Mendoza will be ready when he’s ready and that’s kind of a nice feeling because they don’t have to rush him into week 1 action until he’s full prepared. He’s been learning the under center [and] play action stuff in Klint Kubiak’s offense. They’re leaving a little wiggle room if he shows up for training camp and just wows everybody and takes the job, he could play.”
“But they’re going to do it when he’s fully ready. There’s a plan. They’re just not trying to rush him.”
Raiders QB Coach had ‘answers to the test’ in New York
In May, Carr talked about having Sullivan as his QB coach with the Giants and said the 59-year-old is one of the sharpest and hardest working coaches he has ever been around.
“That dude, you talk about having answers to the test, he will spend countless hours and days finding obscure coverages and fronts that these guys played against a certain formation that you have to where when you go on the field, you had all the answers. [He was] never surprised. He was uncanny about that,” Carr said of Sullivan.
Sullivan has coached in the NFL for 22 years, has been a quarterbacks coach for seven seasons, and been an offensive coordinator for four seasons. He also has nine years of experience as a college coach.
x: @raidersbeat