With the Raiders rattling off three straight wins to start the season, the decision to roll with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins seemed like the right path to take. Now that the Raiders have lost four straight, it’s fair to wonder if the time has come for first-round rookie Fernando Mendoza to play.
Cousins was asked about the possibility of being replaced by the top pick in the draft after Sunday’s 35-21 loss to the Ras.
“It’s really the same every day as it was in March or April,” Cousins told reporters. “I mean, nothing changes in the sense that if I’m not the best option, then I don’t want to be there either. I want our football team to have the best chance to win games, and if (in) the first OTA, if that had become obvious, I would have been the first one to say, ‘Yeah, you can’t play me.’
“So, nothing changes, you know, and the organization will do what they think is best. I think, you know, Fernando has done a great job and has a great future ahead of him, and I’m trying to go out there and play as well as I can to help us win and give him a great example to learn from, until he eventually goes.”
At some point, though, it’s less about who gives the team the best chance to win and more about preparing Mendoza to try to win in 2027. Likewise, the powers that be might decide to give the team a spark by making a change — before the losses pile up to the point where a playoff spot is unrealistic — even before Medoza is technically the better player.
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