Just minutes after the Raiders selected Fernando Mendoza with the first-overall pick in the draft, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the plan in Las Vegas was to keep Mendoza on the sideline for the first part of the season.
This week, Rapoport reiterated that report, but added that the Raiders want Cousins to keep Mendoza in a backup role as long as possible.
“What the Raiders want is for Kirk Cousins to go out there and do everything he possibly can to make sure that Fernando Mendoza does not see the field,” Rapoport said on Friday.
“[They want] Cousins to play as well as he possibly can, to stay healthy, to give them a chance to win, and allow Mendoza the time necessary for him to [develop] and get a chance to go out there when he is ready to play. It is okay if they are not best friends. It is okay if the coaches do the mentorship, not the players. None of this is Kirk Cousins’ job and I appreciate that he decided to tell us this so we don’t talk about phony narratives.”
Last week, Cousins made headlines with a series of comments about not necessarily assuming a mentorship role with Mendoza.
“[It’s] more of a narrative than it is the truth,” Cousins said of the idea he was brought to Las Vegas to mentor the no.1 pick.
“They’re pretty good players, pretty experienced, and I’m learning a lot from them, too, and asking questions to them. Nobody’s leading more than someone else. I think we’re all a working force together, helping each other, giving feedback, giving perspective, giving another set of eyes.”
While it might be true that Cousins’ primary role isn’t to “mentor” Mendoza, there’s no question the organization views Cousins as someone who can be a big part of Mendoza’s development at the NFL level.
The Raiders can put out the message that they want to keep Cousins at the top of the depth chart, but at some point, probably sooner than later, there won’t be a great benefit to keeping Mendoza on the sideline.
How much time on the sideline is too much time on the Sideline for the Raiders rookie QB?
One of the real challenges for the Raiders’ coaching staff is going to be figuring out what will be the optimum timeline for getting Mendoza on the field.
The California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore talked about that dynamic last week on the Raiders’ flagship radio station, and he believes there will be a point where Mendoza’s development will be stalled by holding a clipboard on the sideline.
“I struggle with this because I just feel like, if you start Kirk, which I get it, I understand it. You run the risk, as we’ve talked about, if you’re playing well, why make the move [to Mendoza], right? If he’s playing good and the team’s head is above water, why ever make the move at least this year? Just put it off to next year,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“But I just worry that that becomes a wasted year for Fernando Mendoza.”
What is ideal timeline to get Mendoza on the field?
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers thinks the 2026 schedule offers a perfect opportunity for the Raiders to slide Mendoza into the starting lineup in December after the bye.
“I see that as the runway right there… Obviously, it’s going to be based off of the performance of what happens throughout the course of the year, and I know Raider Nation is probably going to want to see Fernando way before week 14. But I see that as a perfect segue from Kirk Cousins to Fernando Mendoza,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast last month.
“Especially coming out of the bye, you have three games at home… The first three games out of that bye are all at home. And then, by the way, the fourth game is in Arizona. So that’s not very far either… I don’t like the bye week late. But in this scenario, because I’ve been so focused on when it was going to be to see if there was a perfect time for Fernando Mendoza to slide in, I think that that could be the ideal time. You can allow the offense to line to gel. You’re already through, you know, 12 games in 13 weeks,” Myers continued.
“At that point, that zone blocking scheme, if you ain’t going to have it down by then, you’re not going to have it down this season, right? And so your weapons should be all into the playbook and understand their roles. And obviously health plays a role as well. But I look at that, and if I had to put some money down, if I had to go to FanDuel right now, put some money down on when Fernando Mendoza plays, I say it’s coming out that bye week.”
x: @raidersbeat
There is usually a game here or there where we’re either way ahead or way behind and in those types of games he will be able to get his feet wet and we’ll be able to see how he does. If he does really well then he earns more play time when possible. Sometimes good to ease a new guy in rather than throw him in.