Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza opens up on his future relationship with Raiders QB Kirk Cousins
The Las Vegas Raiders are going to draft the right guy, Fernando Mendoza, to be the future franchise quarterback.
The Las Vegas Raiders made the somewhat controversial decision recently to sign veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. This means that he will be the mentor to future rookie QB Fernando Mendoza. Whether or not he is the starter over Mendoza is something we are still waiting to find out.
But, there really isn’t a more perfect mentor for Mendoza. They have a similar personality: a goofy, nerdy type of guy, in a good way, of course. And, they are also very big God-fearing men. These things are important because you want to match two QBs who get along, especially when one is the mentor.
We have seen very crappy mentor situations with some very talented QBs in the NFL. That side of things can go bad quickly, and can certainly impact the play of the franchise guy. And, to make the pairing even better, they play the game similarly. So, you can imagine that Mendoza is pretty excited about what’s to come, even if it means he won’t be starting right away.
Mendoza talks about Cousins being a potential mentor
“Whatever nuggets he would want to give, I would take in and emulate in my own game. Hopefully, I can be teammates with him. He’s not only a great player; he’s a great leader of men,” Mendoza said on the Up and Adams Show regarding Kirk Cousins.
And, Mendoza will be learning from someone who has actually done things in this league. Cousins has 44 thousand passing yards and 298 passing touchdowns in his career, which is good enough for the fifth-best among active quarterbacks. He also has the 15th most passing touchdowns of all time, which is pretty impressive when you think about the fact that Cousins was a fourth-round pick. And, Cousins is still good right now.
Cousins, even after starting as a backup in Atlanta in 2025 and playing 10 games, performed well in advanced metrics. For instance, he posted an 89.5% Catchable Ball Percentage (seventh-best among players with 100+ attempts) and a 78.1% On Target Percentage (sixth-best), demonstrating strong accuracy. Cousins is still an accurate thrower.
