The Las Vegas Raiders are entering an exciting era with their first overall pick, Fernando Mendoza. The plan appears to be to start veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins while allowing Mendoza time to develop, especially since it is his rookie season. However, Mike Florio of Pro Football Network raised an important question that could make things difficult in the locker room.

“When you’re out on the practice field, if Mendoza is clearly better than Kirk Cousins this deep into his career at this age, late 30s, and you’ve got some grand strategic plan that you’re going to let him sit for a year, what’s Maxx Crosby going to say about that? What’s Brock Bowers going to say about that?” Florio said this week.

“‘Wait a minute. The NFL has evolved to the ultimate one-year-at-a-time sport, and we’ve a guy who we can all tell at every practice is better than Kirk Cousins as of right now, but you’ve got this plan that you’re going to groom Fernando Mendoza by having him not play, by deliberately choosing the lesser guy to be the quarterback. Good luck with that one, Klint Kubiak. I just don’t buy it.”

The Raiders finished the 2025 season 3-14, allowing themselves to draft Mendoza with the first overall pick. At the same time, however, Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers were two of the best performers of the team during a disappointing season. Crosby finished with 73 combined tackles, 45 solo tackles, and 10 sacks.

Bowers, meanwhile, entered the season after scoring over 1,000 receiving yards in his rookie year, and piled up another 680 yards and 7 touchdowns in 64 receptions in just 12 games. So, in a hypothetical scenario, if Mendoza is outperforming Kirk Cousins, but the Raiders are still starting with the latter, that might raise some eyebrows in the locker room.

After all, it’s worth noting that Crosby has been vocal about winning, and Vegas hasn’t been the right place to do so. The five-time Pro Bowler has only one playoff appearance to his name. His attempted move to the Baltimore Ravens was an indication that he wanted to win now, and if Mendoza was the right man to get him there, instead of Cousins, Florio argues that the rookie QB should start.

However, the Raiders, especially the team’s minority owner, Tom Brady, has made it clear that Fernando Mendoza will need to earn the starting quarterback job.

“I love Fernando,” Brady said, “but Fernando is like every other young rookie. He’s got to go out there and earn it like everybody else. And I am excited about the opportunity for our team to have him as a first overall pick. He has done a lot of hard work to get to this point.”

The Raiders signed Cousins earlier this year on a deal that could be worth up to $172 million over the next five years before drafting Fernando Mendoza. While it’s true that Mendoza is a Heisman Trophy winner and is coming after leading Indiana to a national championship, Cousins is still likely to get the QB1 nod. Whether it’s going to be a good decision remains to be seen.