As quarterback battles go, the one between Kirk Cousins, Fernando Mendoza and possibly Aidan O'Connell at the Las Vegas Raiders' training camp is about as friendly as it can get. The mantra for the room has been how they're competing with each other, not against each other.
Cousins has made it clear that he knows being named the starter entering training camp promises him nothing, as Mendoza is likely to eventually get some noticeable work with the first-team offense this preseason, and the door is still open for him to win the starting job.
While he's obviously close to the end of his career, the stakes are still high for Cousins this year. However long he is starting under center for the Raiders, in what will surely be his lone season in Las Vegas, he has to show the rest of the league he can still be a starting-caliber quarterback.
That could mean he becomes a prime trade asset for John Spytek before the deadline, or he builds a strong resume for when he hits the open market next March.
Cousins comes off as a fairly casual quarterback who has prioritized getting paid over the course of his career (which he has done more successfully than basically any quarterback ever, by the way). But sometimes a competitive fire becomes visible to the point he can't hide it behind a "capitalist quarterback" facade.
And he is not rolling over in Las Vegas for Mendoza.
Kirk Cousins is clearly not going to lay down for Fernando Mendoza
By all accounts, Mendoza has looked good through the first three days of training camp practice. It's fair to mention that he has been working with (and against) second-stringers, but what he has shown translates regardless.
Meanwhile, reviews of Cousins' work had been largely absent through two days of practice. That's not necessarily a bad thing; he just hadn't done anything that especially grabbed the attention of reporters on-site. Training camp highlights before pads come on tend to be overblown anyway.
On Friday, that changed. Cousins did throw an interception during the practice session, which came on a tipped ball, to be fair, but he otherwise looked really good to those who observed. Levi Damien of Raiders Wire had a particularly glowing review.
"(Cousins) was absolutely dealing. Perfect passes perfectly placed all day, leading to some great catches that seemed near impossible for defenders to get to. This included dime balls in the back left corner of the end zone to Brock Bowers and the back right corner to Tre Tucker. Then a tight fit ball to Jack Bech in the back of the end zone."
While he rarely offers a completely disastrous level of play, Cousins can also get on real hot streaks. Yes, it was only an unpadded camp practice on the last day of July, but Friday appears to have been one of those top-end days where he found Bowers time after time, and the offense hummed.
Cousins needs to stack more of these kinds of days to completely ward off calls for Mendoza to start immediately. But he is showing, as expected, that he will not just step aside and let the rookie outdo him.
And that, as much as anything, is another reason that he was brought in. To push Mendoza, not just to show him how an NFL quarterback operates. Coach Kubiak mentioned that he wanted Mendoza and O'Connell to push Cousins, and it seems that they have. And Cousins isn't capitulating.
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