Kirk Cousins Could Already Have a QB Controversy in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Raiders signed Kirk Cousins in March, about six weeks before their very obvious draft pick of Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza first overall. Now, somewhat predictably, there’s a mystery looming, with Raiders fans unsure how long Cousins will be under center.

Las Vegas evidently wants Cousins to start indefinitely while the world wonders, “What’s the hold-up?” on Mendoza.

Mendoza Gives Las Vegas a Built-In Pivot

Ian Rapoport on Cousins

Training camps begin in about one week, and among quarterback competitions around the league, Cousins versus Mendoza is near the top of the list.

NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport said this week, “The way they’re hoping for it to all be is for Kirk Cousins to be the starter at the beginning of the season, throughout the season, and the end of the season”

Sitting Mendoza behind Cousins for an entire year would be fine in the long run; it’s just that first overall picks usually play sooner rather than later. The last first-overall-pick to watch and learn was Jared Goff in Los Angeles, and that was a decade ago. Before Goff, Raiders passer JaMarcus Russell — hopefully not a good career comp for Mendoza — only started one game as a rookie. And in 2003, Carson Palmer sat all year behind Jon Kitna for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Overall, it’s a little weird for a first overall pick to have a clear bench assignment as a rookie. Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, for example, started right away.

The Head Coach’s Musings

Earlier in the offseason, Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak — a former Vikings offensive coordinator — opined on this topic, telling Fox Sports, “Ideally, you don’t want him to start from day one. You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world. It doesn’t always work out that way.”

“Sometimes they have to play from day one, and it’s our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.”

Kubiak backed up his words by signing Cousins, and with Cousins’s history of production, he could retain the QB1 job longer than most. Perhaps Kubiak enjoys the “Green Bay Packers model” of quarterback development; just letting a young passer marinate indefinitely.

Just Fluff?

Not everyone is buying the Cousins QB1 theory, though. Fansided‘s Rucker Haringey wrote Saturday, “The more likely date for Mendoza’s first start will come in Week 8 when the Raiders travel to New York to take on the Jets.”

“The downside to that date is that Vegas heads to San Francisco the following week to take on a good 49ers defense. It’s not a perfect runway for Mendoza, but it represents the right balance between rushing him onto the field in Week 1 and having him sit until the season has ceased to be competitive for the Raiders. In the end, Raiders fans should ignore what their team’s higher-ups continue to say about Cousins.”

There’s a chance that promoting Cousins as the starter through the media is a tactic to motivate Mendoza.

“He’s not going to hold off Mendoza for the full season unless the rookie is entirely unable to operate the offense. Expect to see the No. 1 overall pick firmly entrenched as Las Vegas’ starter before the midpoint of the regular season,” Haringey added.

The Inevitability

One thing is certain: Mendoza will be the Raiders’ starting quarterback before too long. It’s all a matter of when.

If Mendoza looks markedly better than Cousins at training camp, Kubiak can just tell the masses, “Hey, the guy earned it, and we didn’t expect him to look this terrific.” And if Cousins looks the part, the Raiders can insist that Mendoza as the QB2 to start the season was the plan all along.

But all signs point to Cousins starting multiple games out of the gate in 2026, even if most NFL teams start first overall picks right away.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker