It is essentially a foregone conclusion that the No. 1 overall pick, particularly if he's a quarterback, will be an automatic starter in the NFL. But the Las Vegas Raiders have been bringing Fernando Mendoza along slowly with the hope that he'll learn from veteran Kirk Cousins and ultimately be better for it.
And while the reported plan was to get the rookie signal-caller some first-team reps during training camp, that never really materialized. During Thursday's preseason opener, Mendoza also played with the 2s, and he enjoyed a rock-solid showing. He looked every bit like a franchise quarterback.
But Cousins was also pretty flawless with the first-team offense, so Klint Kubiak is in no hurry to hand the keys to the first-year player. Most expected this to be more of a true battle in the preseason, but Kubiak made things quite clear when speaking to the media after the game.
"Yeah, well, Kirk [Cousins] has been getting the reps with the ones. I think he's had a solid training camp, and it's his job to lose," Kubiak said.
Klint Kubiak says it is still Kirk Cousins' job to lose after Fernando Mendoza's strong showing
Before training camp, Kubiak declared Cousins the starter, but made it clear that he was only talking about camp. Now, however, the first-year leader has taken things a step further by saying that it is Cousins' job to lose. And Raider Nation knew this on some level, but this was quite concrete.
Kubiak wasn't necessarily negative about Mendoza, but his completing 10 of 16 passes for 97 yards and a score clearly didn't move the needle with the new head coach. Cousins' first-team offense was more efficient than Mendoza's groups, albeit in a smaller sample size, and he's gotten all the reps.
Here's what Kubiak had to say about the rookie after his debut:
"Well, I thought he led a good scoring drive as far as getting in and out of the huddle, commanding the group and getting the play calls down. I saw the same guy that we've seen in practice. I see an ascending player. We've just got to keep getting better."
Mendoza being an "ascending player" is a great thing. Kubiak also called him "NFL-ready" last week, so between these two, it is confusing to fans why Mendoza isn't on equal footing or being given any chance to dethrone Cousins. It is impossible to compare the two because they run in different units.
If Mendoza got more first-team reps, then the coaching staff could more accurately say that one is better than the other. But Cousins having Brock Bowers, Tre Tucker, Ashton Jeanty, Jalen Nailor and Michael Mayer isn't exactly fair compared to what Mendoza is working with in the second unit.
Still, though, this whole experience is about growth for the young player.
"We want to get him plenty of reps in the preseason," Kubiak said. "That was important for us to see him get lots of turns. And as these games go on, we're going to evaluate game-to-game, but he's a young man that needs experience and needs reps and we're going to get them to him."
Well, Raider Nation, enjoy watching Mendoza, the face of the franchise, play in the next two exhibition contests. It sounds like Cousins will be under center in Las Vegas in Week 1, and it is anyone's guess how long it will be until the prized rookie takes the field in a game that actually counts.
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