Kirk Cousins is expected to be the Raiders’ starting quarterback when the season begins, but how long will the fans (and locker room) have to wait for Fernnando Mendoza?
That determination will most likely come down to how the season begins with Cousins under center, and according to league insider Jason La Canfora, Cousins was the reason the decision makers in Las Vegas were willing to wait so long to find a mentor for Mendoza.
“The Raiders waited as long as they did to secure a veteran to assume that position because Cousins was of particular interest to them, knowing they were going to draft Mendoza with their first pick all along,” La Canfora reported on Tuesday.
“Cousins isn’t there just to hold a clipboard for 17 weeks,” as one NFL personnel executive whose team was involved in the quarterback market this offseason, put it. Even Brady’s former team, New England, did not start Drake Maye right away when he was a top draft pick, letting him sit behind Jacoby Brissett for a few games. Maye was runner-up for MVP in his first full season at QB.”
As La Canfora framed it, the best-case scenario for Mendoza would be to wiggle into the lineup after just a few games.
“Minority owner Tom Brady is heavily involved in this process,” La Canfora continued. “Brady, albeit as a sixth-round pick, didn’t play right away his rookie year, Patrick Mahomes (the standard at QB since Brady retired) didn’t play his rookie year until the final game and the Raiders will likely want to see how their offensive line looks with Cousins under center for at least a few games before making the inevitable switch.”
It’s easy to speculate in May about how the quarterback situation is going to play out, but if Mendoza plays well in the preseason (or Cousins struggles), there is going to be pressure to get the first overall pick on the field sooner than later.
For now, though, there is an expectation that Brady is going to be a little stubborn on Mendoza’s timeline – not just because it’s the way so many great quarterbacks cut their teeth in the NFL, but also because Brady and everyone else in the building want Mendoza to be as prepared as possible when he takes the field for the first time in Silver & Black.
For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Adam Schefter also weighed in on Mendoza’s timeline, and he believes the Raiders will try to wait until December.
“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.”
x: @raidersbeat
Cousins will probably be hurt by December 1st