Fernando Mendoza Is Behind Kirk Cousins on the Raiders Depth Chart, but Pete Carroll Is Already Hyping the Rookie
Fernando Mendoza was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. He is currently the third quarterback in the Las Vegas Raiders huddle. That is going to change.
Mendoza is taking reps behind Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell during the team’s voluntary OTAs, ESPN reported. Cousins remains the presumed Week 1 starter, with O’Connell as the veteran insurance behind him. Mendoza, the prized rookie out of Cal, is being eased into the offense at his own pace.
The Raiders are not going to rush their franchise quarterback. They are also not going to leave Mendoza on the bench all season either.
Pete Carroll Already Loves Him
The most telling part of this whole situation is how Raiders coaches are talking about Mendoza in May. Head coach Pete Carroll has spent the entire spring publicly praising the rookie’s preparation, his arm strength, and his command of the playbook. That is not how teams talk about a player who is going to redshirt for an entire season.
That is how they talk about a player who is going to start by October.
Mendoza brings real physical tools to the position. He has the kind of arm that can drive the ball into tight windows on NFL hashes. He moves well enough to escape pressure. He played in a complex pro-style offense in his last year at Cal. He has the kind of natural leadership that makes coaches want to put him on the field as fast as possible.
Kirk Cousins Is on a Short Leash
The reality is that Cousins is here to be a placeholder. He had a rough year in Atlanta last season after his Achilles recovery dragged into the season. The Falcons benched him for Michael Penix Jr. Cousins ended up on the Raiders as a one-year bridge for a team that needed adult quarterback play while their rookie developed.
If Cousins plays well and the Raiders are 5-3 at the bye, he probably keeps the job into the second half. If the Raiders are 2-6 and the season is gone, Mendoza takes over and the rebuild officially begins.
That is the math every No. 1 overall pick deals with. The Raiders have not had a real franchise quarterback since the early Derek Carr years. Mendoza is the answer. The team is just trying to make sure they do not break him before he is ready.
The Schedule Will Force the Issue
The Raiders open the season against the Chiefs on the road. They face the Chargers in Week 3. They have to play the Broncos twice. That is the toughest division in football, and it does not get any easier in the AFC West.
Cousins is not going to single-handedly beat Patrick Mahomes. Nobody is. The Raiders defense will need to carry the team early while Mendoza learns the speed of the game from the sideline. By Halloween, this is going to be Mendoza’s show.
That timeline is exactly what Las Vegas wants. Let Cousins take the heat. Let Mendoza learn at his own pace. And when the moment is right, hand the keys to the franchise to a quarterback who looks like he has been a star since the day he stepped on campus.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
