The Raiders are expected to go into the start of the 2026 season with Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback, but is there a chance Fernando Mendoza could win the job before the start of 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 this 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 on Monday.
“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.”
Bonsignore: Raiders won’t hesitate to start Mendoza when he’s ready
Two weeks ago, Bonsignore used the term “open minded” to describe the Raiders’ approach to Mendoza’s place on the depth chart going into the season.
“I think that there’s people in that building who fully expect Fernando to put himself right in the running to start day one. Flat out, I don’t think there won’t be any hesitation to start him if that is the case and there’s people in the building [that] kind of fully expect that to be the case,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“So I’m not ruling out rule week one and… I think it would almost be a waste not to play him this year, because I’m looking at 2027 as the year where things really in a powerful way for the Raiders, they are really announcing themselves. So why would you wait until 2027 or late in this season and [to] not take full advantage of this year as a development year for Fernando Mendoza on the football field, not behind the scenes watching Kurt Cousins?”
“I think that would be my preference and I think that there are people in the building that are going to be open minded about, okay, if he’s ready to go out there and acquit himself and he’s not going to get destroyed by the offensive line and we feel good about that part of it, I feel like they’ll make that decision. Now we’ll have to wait and see because anything can happen in training camp one way or the other, but they are open minded about getting him on the field as quickly as possible.”
x: @raidersbeat
BS story – the O-Line protection is currently a mystery, and needs to be seen for at least 6-8 games prior to throwing that kid into a risky injury because the O-Line is still a bit shabby