Kirk Cousins ​​to remain Raiders’ QB1 against Jets amid bench buzz, HC talks Fernando Mendoza timeline

There may be a quarterback change for the Las Vegas Raiders, but it won’t happen in the immediate future.

Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak told reporters Monday that Kirk Cousins ​​will remain the team’s starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, adding that there is “no controversy” with number one overall pick Fernando Mendoza waiting in the wings.

“Fernando will end up playing football,” Kubiak said. “He’s going to play at some point. It won’t be this week.”

Cousins’ role as the team’s starting quarterback made sense and wasn’t really in question when the Raiders started 3-0 and looked like a potential surprise contender in the AFC West. However, they have lost four in a row and are trending in the wrong direction.

If the losses continue to pile up, Las Vegas could turn its attention to the future.

And that would clearly open the door for Mendoza, who the team selected with the No. 1 pick to ultimately become the long-term franchise quarterback, to start getting real game experience as a rookie.

Cousins ​​surely knows this and he addressed the situation after the last loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

“It’s really the same thing every day as it was in March or April,” he 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 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 the best I can to help us win and give him a good example to learn from, until he eventually goes.”

The next game against the Jets could be a turning point, as a win would send the Raiders back into the AFC playoff picture, while a loss could turn into a much longer slide as the next four games come against teams above .500 in the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns.

For now, Cousins ​​will remain the Raiders’ starting quarterback.

But another loss to the Jets will only increase speculation until the team makes a change.