Grappling with reality typically isn’t a strong suit for NFL teams that end up with the No. 1 draft pick.
The Las Vegas Raiders, however, might outpace the pack when it comes to self-delusion in recent years. How else can one explain the franchise’s inescapable cycle of resets since moving to Sin City, with the team now led by its fifth different full-time coach since 2020? Each of the team’s previous two hires – Antonio Pierce and Pete Carroll – represented desperate grabs for respectability, and both came up empty-handed.
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But owner Mark Davis and his football brain trust – led by general manager John Spytek, new coach Klint Kubiak and part-owner Tom Brady – appear to have learned from last season’s botched attempt to claw their way out of the basement.
The Raiders have already demonstrated that they’ve trained their collective focus further toward the horizon. At this year’s NFL scouting combine, Spytek expressed a preference to open the season with a veteran starter behind center – not merely for the immediate competitive advantage, but rather so as not to inhibit the development of the top pick. Kubiak echoed that sentiment this week at the league meetings.
“Ideally, you don’t want (a rookie quarterback) to start from Day 1,” Kubiak said Tuesday. “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 1, 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.”
Two days later, the Raiders secured their buffer in veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, who signed what amounts to a one-year deal with the team.
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Neither Kubiak nor Spytek mentioned Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza by name in their assessments, but they didn’t have to. All signs point to Las Vegas taking the Heisman Trophy winner when the draft kicks off in three weeks.
But rather than pin their hopes on Mendoza leading a rapid and unlikely ascent, the Raiders appear to be admitting just how much work they have left to do to enact a proper setup for their forthcoming signal-caller.
This is a team confronting the depths of its organizational abyss. Even with a talent influx in the last week, the roster remains dotted with problem areas. Leaving a first-time head coach and rookie passer to figure things out together on the fly would have been inviting catastrophe, with the latter potentially paying a costly toll in his long-term development.
The Raiders are not an outfit prepared to support a rookie starting quarterback – and that’s OK.
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In steps Cousins as not only a mentor, but also a safeguard against a dynamic that Brady, Spytek and Kubiak are still trying to get under control.
Raiders’ roster problems remain pervasive
At the combine, Spytek highlighted all the factors he’d like to have in place to assist in a rookie quarterback’s acclimation process.
“I think you want to limit the amount of pressure you have on that guy from the start,” Spytek said. “Now, if you have a young quarterback, I’m not necessarily in favor of running him out there right away, either. So, another quality player that can play the position if you have a young quarterback, obviously a great offensive line, a run game – all the things that can limit his chances to really get killed. And a great defense, too, because if he doesn’t have to go out there and feel like he has to score 35 points every week, I think that’s helpful.”
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After Thursday, he might only have the first box checked off.
Let the Raiders’ free agency roadmap reflect the franchise’s most pressing deficiencies. Las Vegas shattered the center market to sign three-time Pro Bowl selection Tyler Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million deal. An ideal fit for Kubiak’s system, Linderbaum could bring a sense of composure to a front that’s long been out of sorts.
Yet even as a force multiplier, there are limitations to what he can do for Mendoza and this line. The return of left tackle Kolton Miller could prove significant, given what a steady presence he’s become as a blind-side blocker. Still, offensive lines are weak-link systems, and the Raiders have several remaining from a group that surrendered a league-worst 64 sacks in 2025. And while it’s fair to pin a good number of those on the since-departed quarterback Geno Smith, Las Vegas ranked 22nd in pass-block win rate, according to ESPN, and 23rd in pressure rate allowed, according to Next Gen Stats.
Proper protection is hardly a given.
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The relevant point of comparison here is 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward, whose rookie campaign with the Tennessee Titans was knocked off course by an unrelenting onslaught of edge rushers. Ward frequently compensated for that pass-blocking malpractice by breaking structure and extending plays in a go-it-alone fashion.
That’s hardly an ideal path to follow. And for Mendoza, a rhythmic passer who loses his efficiency when forced off his spot, it’s also an entirely untenable one.
Perhaps Kubiak’s play-calling can alleviate pressure. But the big play-action gains that repeatedly materialized in his Seattle Seahawks offense last year figure to be hard to come by, especially with a receiving corps that – outside of tight end Brock Bowers – looks as shaky as the line. Meanwhile, rooting the offense through the rushing attack might not be a viable option in the early going. Kubiak’s ground game eventually found its footing, but things didn’t click until toward the end of the regular season. The Raiders, who were far and away the least effective team via the run by every notable metric last season, present an even more imposing project.
With so much working against the Week 1 starter, it stands to reason that the Raiders wouldn’t want to leave Mendoza to fight against those forces himself.
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Instead, Cousins steps in as something of a test pilot. He can figure out what works and what doesn’t with the application of Kubiak’s scheme to a new group and report his findings back to the coach and rookie signal-caller. The veteran also can be the one to stand in the line of fire while the offensive line jells and the revamped run game comes together.
Whenever the offense at large reaches a more stable point than it ever approached last season under Chip Kelly, Cousins can make his final handoff to Mendoza. By that point, the team would ideally be close to another offseason of personnel upgrades.
The Tom Brady influence
While Spytek and Kubiak were the ones to speak out about not rushing Mendoza into action, Brady might be the most determined figure on this front.
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Since retiring in 2023, the seven-time Super Bowl champion has repeatedly aired out his issues with many parts of the quarterback development pipeline. He has decried the game being “dumbed down” for young passers, from the collegiate ranks and into the early stages of their NFL careers.
“I think it’s just a tragedy that we’re forcing these rookies to play early,” Brady said in a 2024 conversation at the Fanatics Fan Fest.
Hypercompetitive to the core, Brady no doubt rues the franchise being stuck in the dregs. But there’s no fast track to relevance for this franchise as currently constructed, so it’s on him to dutifully build. That no doubt was the driving force behind the franchise pulling the trigger on the Maxx Crosby trade before the deal fell apart, and it’s surely top of mind in the plan for Mendoza.
If ever there were one player who might be able to sway Brady’s opinion, it might be Mendoza. The 6-5, 236-pounder not only looks physically fit for the pro game but also mentally prepared – or at least as close to it as any collegiate quarterback could be. Quick in his processing and precise as a distributor, he solves the riddles presented by defenses in a hurry.
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Yet there are bound to be unfamiliar experiences for any quarterback attempting to make the sizable leap from collegiate star to early pro starter. Mendoza, for instance, has seldom operated from under center, a staple of Kubiak’s system.
Maybe a greater comfort level with taking snaps and dropping back arrives over the summer. Maybe it doesn’t. Either way, it’s probably highly preferable to Brady that Mendoza fine-tune these elements in the background rather than try to master them while lined up across from the Denver Broncos’ defense. While that happens, Brady and the rest of Raiders brass can take temperature checks to ensure the team has instituted the proper infrastructure for Mendoza to succeed whenever he takes over.
“I’m putting all of my efforts toward just trying to be the best quarterback possible for the season,” Mendoza told reporters at his pro day on Wednesday. “But I know at the next level, there’s going to be a lot more snaps under center, and that’s a big adjustment. I need to get used to that and just the nature of the game. Not only that, the hash (marks) are more condensed and the speed of the game is faster.”
In signing Cousins, however, the Raiders helped slow things down a bit – both for Mendoza and themselves.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady, Raiders stare into abyss with Kirk Cousins signing
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