The Raiders haven’t named a starting quarterback, but every indication is that Kirk Cousins will be the starter for the season opener against the Miami Dolphins.
Not only has Cousins outplayed Fernando Mendoza in preseason, but he has also been taking the vast majority of first-team reps since the start of training camp.
There were reports over the last few months that Mendoza would be given an opportunity to earn the starting job, but according to The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, the decision at quarterback was made months ago.
Nguyen said even before the Raiders drafted Mendoza; the plan was to let him learn under Cousins to start the year.
There have been rumors that Tom Brady has been pushing head coach Klint Kubiak to give Mendoza time to learn on the sideline, but there haven’t been any indications that Brady and Kubiak aren’t in alignment.
Realistically, there was probably a scenario where Mendoza could have seized the starting job in the preseason, but that didn’t happen. Mendoza looked like a rookie quarterback in the preseason, and he was the second-best quarterback on the roster – albeit with flashes of the incredible potential that elevated him to the top of the draft and a little more arm strength than some were expecting.
Prior to Thursday’s game (which wasn’t a good one for Mendoza), former Raider great Matt Millen talked about the Raiders quarterback room and said he didn’t believe Mendoza was ready to be the starter.
“I’m going to be completely straight with you, the young quarterback is not ready yet,” Millen said on Thursday’s pre-game show with Q Myers and Lincoln Kennedy.
“You can see him making steps. Every now and then a [Dan] Marino comes around or somebody like that. Just like, ‘What the heck is he doing? He’s not supposed to do that.’ But it usually takes about three years to learn this league. And while you’re learning this league, they’re learning you. And so Fernando has an excellent arm. He has excellent mobility. He sees the field. He’s a great worker. He has a really good work ethic, which that’s half the battle.”
“But he’s going to see things that he’s never seen before. And he’ll be able to process all that and put it in his lunchbox and move on for the next game. But he’s going to get fooled sometimes and we have to expect that.”
Millen added that he loves Cousins on the roster and thinks Cousins is the perfect quarterback for Mendoza to learn behind.
“Honestly, I think the Raiders did a phenomenal job,” Millen said of the team’s decision to add Kirk Cousins to the quarterback room in the offseason.
“I think they probably have the best quarterback room in the league. I think Kirk Cousins is one of those guys who’s like a goody two-shoes guy who if you get into a fight, he’d kick your ***. You go, ‘He’s not supposed to do that.’ I’ve always liked that about Kirk. He’s been like that his whole career. He has that nice goody two-shoes kind of thing going with him, but he ain’t afraid to throw down…”
x: @raidersbeat