The Las Vegas Raiders are entering a new era after trading Kirk Cousins earlier this week. Now, it's time for Fernando Mendoza to take the reins as the quarterback of the future for the Silver and Black. His journey begins on Sunday in Week 10.
While Mendoza was seen as pro-ready coming into the NFL, there will, of course, be growing pains. His first action will be against one of the league's best defenses, as the Seattle Seahawks will come to Las Vegas to take on the Silver and Black, with Klint Kubiak and Co. facing their former team.
Kubiak will need a strong game plan to make his young signal-caller comfortable. That will be very difficult against Mike McDonald, who is one of the best defensive minds in the sport and whose defense utilizes many blitzes and coverages to confuse quarterbacks.
When it comes to getting the best out of a rookie quarterback, Kubiak's main example is Spencer Rattler. While Rattler struggled as a rookie, Kubiak helped build buzz around him as the starter heading into 2025, when he worked with the New Orleans Saints. Let's take a look at the film.
Spencer Rattler gives a glimpse of what Kubiak could do with Mendoza
Rattler’s stats are underwhelming on paper, but he had a few moments where he shone. Rattler doesn't have Mendoza's size, but their arm talent and mobility are similar. What Rattler did in Kubiak's offense, though, can give us a short glimpse of how the Raiders may use Mendoza on Sunday.
A staple of Kubiak’s offense is the bootleg. It is a function of the wide zone scheme, as it gets the defense flowing one way while the offense reverses field. Las Vegas couldn't accomplish this much with Cousins, but in 2024, Rattle threw three of his four touchdowns using play-action bootlegs.
In the example below, the Saints ran a bootleg concept that the Raiders simply haven’t used in 2026 - yet. On this play, Rattler will be in the pistol and run a play-action fake, then roll to his right and scan the field.
While rolling to his right, he has Chris Olave on a deep corner and Juwan Johnson on a deep over route. Rattler rolls to his right on the bootleg and gets a blocker to stop the free runner. He then rips the throw to Johnson for a big first-down gain.
Below is another example, but this time with a fake toss under center. This time, Rattler rolls to his right and has a drag and deep over to choose from. With the space and athleticism to make the throw, he hits the drag for a good gain on first down.
On the last play below, it's a play-action call in the red zone. This time, it will be a corner-flat concept called by Kubiak. The play action and play details leave a wide-open corner route for Rattler to score a touchdown.
Of course, this was two years ago and with a different quarterback. However, it gives fans an idea of how things might look on Sunday, as Kubiak prepares to make life easy for his young and much more mobile quarterback.
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