Raiders not asking Kirk Cousins to mentor Fernando Mendoza
· Yahoo Sports
It was pretty obvious the Raiders were going to take Fernando Mendoza with the top pick in the draft for several months. But the best case scenario was always to have a veteran on the team as well. The team made the expected move to trade away Geno Smith which meant they would look to free agency for that addition.
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The free agent market at quarterback was pretty thin. And far and away the top free agent quarterback was Kirk Cousins.
The 14-year veteran was such a perfect choice for the Raiders, it seemed like more of a pipe dream to even consider the possibility he would come to Las Vegas. Then he did, giving the Raiders a viable starter before they had even selected Mendoza atop the draft.
Part of the reason Cousins seemed like a good choice -- aside from his ability to still play the position -- was to offer Mendoza a mentor to begin his career. But according to Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak, that was never something the team asked of Cousins.
“I never ask anybody to be a mentor," Kubiak said when asked about Cousins mentoring Mendoza. "If you’re on the roster, it’s to play and play really well for the team. That’s the quarterback’s job all three of them is to get ready to play and win games at a high level. And then when everybody’s doing that, they’re pushing each other it creates competition and the whole roster gets better. All I want from our quarterbacks is to be competitive and to all prepare like they’re starters.”
Days earlier Cousins threw cold water on the idea that he was mentoring either Mendoza or fellow QB Aidan O'Connell. But at the time it seemed more like just being humble.
"They're great football minds, great studiers, so they can push me," Cousins said of Mendoza and O'Connell. "I think to say I'm mentoring them is a bit of a reach, probably more of a narrative than it is the truth, in the sense that they're pretty good players and pretty experienced, and I'm learning a lot from them too and asking questions of them. And so, it's always been a working force together in the quarterback room, and that's what it is. Nobody's leading more than someone else. I think we're all just kind of a working force together, helping each other, giving feedback, giving perspective, giving another set of eyes, and I've always felt I prepare my best during the season when we can all kind of be together in that room in the evening, going over things together rather than working in our own silos. I think when we can kind of all be given feedback on each other, that's when I think the best ideas come out."
The thing is, though, that Cousins can help Mendoza learn to be a pro even without taking on a mentor role. Their play styles are similar, Cousins is familiar with Kubiak's system, and he knows how to prepare as a pro. These are all things Mendoza can learn by watching and emulating. Cousins's presence also takes the pressure off of Mendoza to be the franchise QB immediately.
Kubiak wants all three of his quarterbacks to prepare as if they are the starter. Being a mentor would mean Cousins is preparing to *not* be the starter. And that might be appropriate had the Raiders signed a QB who can't still get it done on the field. But they got the one guy who can. Relegating him to mentor would waste that.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders not asking Kirk Cousins to mentor Fernando Mendoza