The Raiders spent the No. 1 overall pick on Fernando Mendoza in April and immediately turned around and signed Kirk Cousins to be the veteran bridge. The plan was simple: Cousins starts, Mendoza watches and learns, everybody's happy. That plan got a lot messier on Thursday night.
Raiders HC Klint Kubiak is not ready to name a starting quarterback for the regular season despite sitting Kirk Cousins and having rookie Fernando Mendoza start in Thursday’s 22-20 preseason win over the Texans. Story via @ryanmcfadden_: https://t.co/OSddWEBFVQ
Kubiak sat Cousins and started Mendoza in a 22-20 preseason win over the Texans, with Aidan O'Connell playing behind him. Per Adam Schefter, the plan going in had Mendoza playing roughly the first half before O'Connell took over — a normal preseason rotation on paper, except the guy getting first crack was the rookie, not the $20 million veteran.
That's a real shift from where camp started. Cousins took the bulk of first-team reps throughout the offseason program and looked sharp doing it, while Mendoza worked with the twos and threes alongside O'Connell. Cousins and Kubiak also go way back — they spent three seasons together in Minnesota, where Kubiak coached him to 12,089 passing yards and 94 touchdowns as QBs coach and offensive coordinator. That relationship was supposed to be the stabilizing force in Las Vegas.
Instead, Kubiak is publicly refusing to close the door. "We got another week. I don't want anyone to be comfortable in their job. It should always be that way for all positions. So, let's keep going," he said, according to Ryan McFadden's reporting relayed by SleeperNFL.
It's not just a QB story, either — it's a Raiders pattern. Schefter noted this marks the 4th straight year Las Vegas will roll out a different head coach-quarterback pairing, a level of instability most franchises spend years trying to escape, not extend.
Cousins' deal is structurally built for exactly this kind of uncertainty. It's really a 1-year, $20 million fully guaranteed contract with club options that could stretch it to 5 years and $172 million — meaning the Raiders aren't married to him if Mendoza forces the issue. With final roster cuts and Week 1 approaching, Kubiak's refusal to name a starter isn't just coach-speak. It's a real signal that the No. 1 pick might be closer to QB1 than anyone in Vegas expected a week ago.