Las Vegas Raiders fans remember the optimism that was in the air during the 2014 offseason. After trading a sixth-round pick for Matt Schaub and bolstering the roster in free agency, they selected future stars like Khalil Mack, Derek Carr and Gabe Jackson with the first three picks in April's draft.
Fast forward to the 2026 offseason, and the Raiders are following a similar blueprint. They spared no cost on the open market, onboarded Kirk Cousins as a veteran quarterback and will pair him with a young signal-caller in Fernando Mendoza, and have plenty of picks to build even more in the draft.
And while the scenarios aren't an exact match, as Mendoza is the top pick and Carr was a second-rounder, the basic sentiment for the remainder of the offseason will be somewhat the same: How does the young guy look in training camp, and who should start in Week 1 for the Silver and Black?
Reporters and fans alike are already attacking these questions after the Cousins signing. Let's hear what some of the experts are saying about the one question that everyone wants to know the answer to: When will -- or should -- Mendoza start his first game for the Raiders?
Debates have already ensued about when Fernando Mendoza should start for Las Vegas Raiders
Now, it should be noted that John Spytek and Klint Kubiak have left this open-ended. They've been firm in their stance that they don't want to start a rookie quarterback right away and that they'd like to have a choice. But they wouldn't rule out him starting Week 1 this year, nor not at all as a rookie.
First up to bat was former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Chase Daniel, who believes that the Raiders wouldn't be drafting Mendoza first overall if they didn't intend to start him, even with the recent addition of Cousins.
"I don't think there's any way that you draft Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall, and then Kirk Cousins plays," Daniels explained. "This (signing) is purely for a high-character, high-IQ quarterback room to help the growth of Fernando Mendoza."
Daniels could absolutely be right. It's not like Las Vegas is waging their entire future or a ton of resources on Cousins. But the counterpoint to that is that the Raiders spent enough on him, $11.3 million for a year of work, that you can't just poo-poo the contract and what it may mean.
ESPN's Mina Kimes and Pablo Torre then took the stage on Pardon The Interruption and debated whether Cousins or Mendoza should get the nod to kick off the 2026 NFL season. Kimes, in contrast to Daniels, believes that it'll be Cousins to start the year.
"I think it could be Kirk Cousins. And I say that, and it's not an indictment on Fernando Mendoza, who I think will be the first overall pick, and who I think should be the first overall pick," Kimes explained. "He is accurate, he is tough, he is large. But he also hasn't done a lot of the things that the Raiders' head coach and play-caller, Klint Kubiak, wants him to do. ... To me, it makes sense to bring (Cousins) in so that you can onboard Mendoza slowly as he acclimates to the offense and gets him comfortable without forcing the issue."
Torre then brought up another pretty compelling argument in support of Kimes' point.
"I think that if you're trying to protect and raise a young quarterback, which is the hardest thing to do in the NFL, you want him to be the guy who comes in relief at some point, and not the guy who goes out there and maybe gets relieved," Torre said.
From that perspective, it seems like a good idea to start Cousins, at least in the short term. It may not even be a knock on Mendoza; perhaps the team isn't ready to support him, and the Raiders don't want to throw Mendoza to the wolves and kill his confidence out of the gates.
Former NFL general manager and current ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum noted a few interesting things as well during Get Up last week.
"We want to make sure that Mendoza has a great career. It's not a matter of how many games they win in Year 1," Tannenbaum said.
Domonique Foxworth then pushed back on that idea a bit, effectively echoing what Daniels said earlier. In his view, Mendoza is destined to start early in the year regardless, but especially if he plays well throughout the preseason.
"I'd be stunned if (Mendoza) doesn't start somewhere close to the beginning of the season. Maybe not Week 1," Foxworth said. "What happens is (that) the players kind of decide for you. There's gonna be a bunch of guys on that team who want the best quarterback available. If Mendoza is as good as they expect him to be ... those players in the camp will understand, it will be impossible for them to keep Mendoza off of the field if he is as good as they suspect that he will be. So I think it's gonna be a short runway for Kirk Cousins."
Foxworth may absolutely be right. If the locker room wants one quarterback to start over another, a coach should generally heed that advice. And fans can at least rest assured now that if Mendoza starts, he actually won the job, and it wasn't just handed to him for lack of other or better options.
Mike Greenberg then spoke about how NFL teams too often ruin their young quarterbacks by forcing them to bite off more than they can chew. His answer, which resides somewhere in the middle of the previous comments we've just read, might be the most basic and sensible.
"The answer is always: Fernando Mendoza should start when he is ready. If that's Week 1, if it's Week 8, if it's Year 2, it doesn't matter," Greenberg explained. "It should be determined by his readiness, and now, they can do it that way. ... Don't let it be determined by anything but the readiness of the kid."
Adding Cousins into the fray did give Las Vegas some flexibility. Before, with just Aidan O'Connell on the roster, Mendoza had no real competition, and the Raiders had no reason not to trot him out there right away. But having Cousins gives them a choice, which is critical and takes the pressure off a bit.
No matter what ultimately happens with Mendoza in Year 1, fans have to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Experience can be a great teacher, but being fed to the dogs when you're not ready can be incredibly harmful to a young player as well.
Yes, Mendoza appears to be a confident young quarterback who doesn't let things phase him. But that doesn't mean that the Raiders need to get careless with how they choose to employ the young player. Greenberg said it best: Start Mendoza when he's ready. Let that be the only thing that matters.
If he's ready by Week 1, they should start him. But if he's not, don't start him until he is. Las Vegas is rebuilding and it needs Mendoza, its most important piece, to be set up for sucess, no matter what that looks like. The team and fanbase can't let instant gratification or pure curiosity stand in the way.