Las Vegas Raiders fans may be waiting with bated breath to see what No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza looks like in the pros, but it sounds like head coach Klint Kubiak will kick things off with Kirk Cousins under center.
Robert Mays of The Athletic Football Show believes that even with Mendoza spending most of his rookie year on ice, the floor Kubiak is going to provide him gives him more confidence that Mendoza is going to be a solid quarterback in the NFL.
Mays points to situations other top quarterbacks walked into as evidence that throwing a youngster into a bad situation could be catastrophic.
Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, and Trevor Lawrence all struggled as rookies when they arrived in the NFL, playing under Matt Eberflus, Frank Reich, and Urban Meyer, respectively. The Raiders are waiting until everything around Mendoza is perfect, and when that is blended with Kubiak's strategic quality, the sky could truly be the limit.
The Athletic believes Fernando Mendoza and Klint Kubiak will succeed with Raiders together
Mays did admit that he will wait and see a bit before committing completely to this take, as many great coordinators like Kubiak have proven to be poor head coaches. However, if he has a bit of the pixie dust from his Seattle tenure, that will be the type of boost Mendoza needs to hit the ground running.
The Raiders' offensive line is leaps and bounds better than it was during the Pete Carroll era. After splashing the cash to bring Tyler Linderbaum to town and going into the year with Spencer Burford and either Caleb Rogers or rookie Trey Zuhn III in the mix between Linderbaum and Kolton Miller, whoever is under center should have time to throw.
Mendoza won't have the best collection of players to throw to. Brock Bowers is just one man, Ashton Jeanty needs to prove that he can be a dynamic weapon in the pros, and the wide receiver room is exceedingly thin.
The Raiders can take the 2027 offseason as an opportunity to build Mendoza a receiving corps that will eventually lead to more consistent offensive success.
While the prospect of competing in a very tough division looks daunting, nailing it at coach and quarterback can make up for a ton of holes elsewhere on the roster and in the organization. The Raiders hope that years of failures here have finally led to some improvement.
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