Raiders Draft Fernando Mendoza, But He Might Not Start This Season

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Las Vegas Raiders used the No. 1 overall pick on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. That being said, he's not a lock to start their season opener.

Mendoza had an incredible 2025 season with the Hoosiers, completing 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions. Although he's got the potential to be a franchise quarterback, there's a chance Kirk Cousins is named the starter for the Raiders.

In fact, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Las Vegas hopes Cousins can be the starting quarterback throughout the 2026 season. He'll earn $20 million fully guaranteed this fall regardless of his role though.

Before the Raiders even signed Cousins this offseason, head coach Klint Kubiak said he doesn't want to throw his rookie quarterback into the fire Week 1.

"Ideally, you don't want him to start from day one," Kubiak said, via Fox Sports. "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."

Is Kirk Cousins a viable option for the Raiders?

Cousins didn't have a bad 2025 season with the Atlanta Falcons by any means. The veteran signal-caller completed 61.7% of his passes for 1,721 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.

At the end of the day though, Mendoza would give the Raiders the most upside on offense this fall.

It's going to be hard for Kubiak to sit Mendoza an entire season, especially if Cousins stumbles this summer.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 5:36 PM.