Four straight losses have raised one question for some: Is Kirk Cousins not a good fit for the QB1 position? And should Fernando Mendoza take over and replace him? Kurt Warner presented a sensible timeline for Mendoza to take over the Raiders’ starting role.
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“And if we can’t compete, you know, no matter where we sit in the standings, that’s to me the time where you start to go, okay, is it time to, you know, kind of speed this thing up and get Fernando out there and kind of let our veterans know, hey, we gave it a run,” Warner said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“You know, we were competitive, but it’s gotten to the point where we think we’ve kind of fallen out of the mix for the playoffs, and now we’re going to try to get our young kid ready for next year and beyond when we can continue to build our team and be championship ready. So, I believe the time is coming.”
Cousins took the Raiders on a hot start this season, going 3-0. However, now that the schedule is heating up with more competition, Las Vegas is not quite hitting the mark. The losses have been close (save for the Patriots one), but they are losses nonetheless. Whether or not this plays into the Raiders’ decision at quarterback for later in this season remains to be seen.
However, it’s not like Kirk Cousins is playing bad this season. He has recorded 1,877 yards with 16 touchdowns (league-highest for now) and just five interceptions. Despite four losses and the record now at 3-4, Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak has confirmed Cousins will start for the New York Jets game.
“Kirk is our starting quarterback. There is no controversy,” Kubiak said on Monday, via Raiders.com’s Paul Gutierrez. “He is playing at a very high level.”
But along with his trust in Cousins, Kubiak is also focusing on improving their gameplay.
“I think at this point, we’re thinking about everything to fix our problems, how to fix our issues in the red zone, in the third quarter, personnel [and] scheme,” Kubiak said after their loss against the Rams. “We’ve got to talk about all of it.”
The rookie Mendoza has taken snaps at quarterback for the Raiders this year, playing in the final quarter against the Patriots. Nothing came out of those snaps, causing the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs. Kubiak said that he had been meaning for Mendoza to get that exposure, and that the reps were “important.”
For what it’s worth, Kirk Cousins has admitted he is open to stepping down from the QB1 spot in case it becomes clear that he isn’t up for the job.
“I want the football team to have the best chance to win games,” Cousins said, via ESPN. “[During] the first OTA [practice], if that had become apparent, I would’ve been the first one to say, ‘Yeah, you can’t play me.'”
It had long been clear that Fernando Mendoza’s chances to be QB1 were slim, and this first season was meant to be a learning period for him. Even Raiders minority owner Tom Brady stressed that Mendoza, like every other rookie, has to earn his time.
Kirk Cousins still looks good to go against the Jets. The offense under Klint Kubiak is doing good things, despite the losses. ESPN’s Dan Graziano claimed that the Raiders want the “situation to be as good around Mendoza as possible once they make that move,” and that “[they] don’t believe they’re there yet.”
NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on Move The Sticks that he thought the Raiders would be “patient” in deciding on when to start Mendoza.
“I said 10 games,” he added, about when the rookie can possibly get QB1 duties. “I said, get through 10 weeks, that leaves you seven to go out there and get some experience and learn on the job. But that’s a nice long to sit and watch and learn. How you prepare, how you practice and give yourself a chance to play well. … That, to me, seems like the sweet spot.”
The upcoming few games might play a role in whether the Raiders deliberate on this topic. Until then, they have put their trust in the veteran QB.