Although the Las Vegas Raiders' future with Fernando Mendoza as their quarterback is incredibly bright, some immediate questions remain: How will he adjust to playing under center? Can he effectively use his legs at the NFL level? Is he even going to start right away or at all as a rookie?
Of course, Mendoza was proactive in answering some of these questions, as he employed the help of former NFL quarterback Brian Griese this offseason as his personal coach. Griese knows Las Vegas' new head man, Klint Kubiak, and Mike Shanahan, the father of Kubiak's offense, both very well.
But the coaching staff and Raider Nation need to see the progress on that front from Mendoza before they supplant Kirk Cousins in his favor. But after hearing Mendoza talk after his first two days of rookie minicamp in Las Vegas, it seems like the first-year player is picking things up quickly so far.
It sounds like Fernando Mendoza's rookie minicamp with Las Vegas Raiders set great foundation
When asked, generally, how things have gone for him on the first two days of rookie minicamp during his media availability on Saturday afternoon, Mendoza answered that it was great to finally be playing football again and laying the foundation.
"It was good to be in the high altitude, get the plays down, the base," Mendoza said. "Because we can be learning on our sheet of paper, but until you put pen to paper and (apply it, it doesn't help). We have coach (Andrew) Janocko, coach Kubiak, and in my case, coach (Mike) Sullivan, repping it, getting on our butts about it, improving us, improving the entire offense every single day. It's been great. And from day one to day two, I think we saw a lot of improvement in everybody, including myself."
Mendoza did note that he has a long way to go, particularly with adjusting to playing under center. But he mentioned that now having access to the playbook and endless film on guys like Cousins and Sam Darnold executing Kubiak's offense is accelerating that process for him.
Communication is also paramount, and rookie quarterbacks may often feel like they are speaking a foreign language when they first start learning their new offense. But Mendoza seems to be taking to things well thus far in Las Vegas on that front.
"It's been dialing it in, and it's been trying to become more fluid with the whole operation of things. It's going to be a step from college to the NFL. However, with the great coaching we have here and the other great players, it makes it really easy on me," Mendoza said. "I've already seen a huge development in the whole offense (from) day one to day two."
Again, Mendoza kept stressing that he was back at the "bottom of the totem pole" and that he had a lot to learn and prove. Plenty of little things go into playing the quarterback position at the highest level, and the Raiders' rookie signal-caller isn't shying away from them.
"When you're positively stressed by getting a lot of information, it allows you to grow," Mendoza said. "And so all of us rookies and tryout guys being able to get stressed by the information will allow us to grow. We saw that from day one to day two. So it's been a great opportunity. I think it's really going to help us rookies into going into mandatory OTAs."
Obviously, Mendoza still has a long way to go. But it sounds like the coaching staff threw a lot at him during rookie minicamp, and both he and the rest of the rookie class were able to set things off the correct way. It will only get more difficult, but starting on the right foot is paramount.
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