Just about every report related to the subject over the past handful of months has made it clear that first-year head coach Klint Kubiak and other individuals within the Las Vegas Raiders want to name veteran Kirk Cousins the team’s Week 1 starting quarterback over rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza.
That said, Mendoza and not Cousins is seen as the team’s long-term answer at the position this summer. During a recent conversation with NFL insider Dan Graziano of ESPN, Cousins admitted a harsh reality about his status as the Raiders’ QB1.
Kirk Cousins will try to start ahead of Fernando Mendoza “as long as I can”
“I think the organization is positioned well having drafted Fernando,” Cousins explained. “I’m gonna try to hold him off as long as I can, and we’ll see how it goes up ahead.”
“As long as I can” may have been doing some heavy lifting regarding Cousins’ comments. As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Raiders fourth among the betting favorites at +1000 odds to finish the season with the fewest wins in the league. If Las Vegas is in contention to complete such an accomplishment around Thanksgiving, one would think Kubiak will make the switch to Mendoza.
That said, a recent update revealed that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady “is actually the voice in the building that is the strongest in terms of, ‘We should wait. We should sit Fernando Mendoza until he’s ready, until we’re ready
for him.'” Brady is the alleged “de facto boss when it comes to football matters” for the Raiders, so it’s fair to wonder if the future Hall of Famer will have the final say on when Mendoza makes his first regular-season start.
Kirk Cousins trying to mentor and compete with Fernando Mendoza
During their chat, Graziano noted that Cousins is both trying “to hold” Mendoza off and help the prospect become a future franchise quarterback.
“You can do both,” Cousins explained about his mindset. “We’re all helping each other, and you kind of compete with each other, I would say, more than against. So it should be a good year. We’re having fun right now in camp, and just trying to get the ropes and build a foundation that we can build from as the season goes on.”
The Raiders will open the preseason with a home game versus the
Arizona Cardinals on Aug. 13.