Las Vegas Raiders QB Kirk Cousins keeps it all the way real regarding the dynamic in the quarterback room
The Las Vegas Raiders have a great group of quarterbacks, but the dynamic isn’t exactly what the narrative may see.
The Las Vegas Raiders have the perfect quarterback room.
They have the rookie, No. 1 overall pick, who is set to be the franchise guy in Fernando Mendoza. They have the mentor who’s played a lot of elite football, but doesn’t have an ego in Kirk Cousins. Then they have another backup in veteran Aidan O’Connell, who’s started a ton of games over the last few years.
Or is Cousins the mentor? It was certainly planned to be that way, but believe it or not, it hasn’t been. Not in a bad way, actually, a very good way.
Kirk Cousins talks about the dynamic of the QB room and being the ‘mentor’
“We have fun in the meetings, have good dialogue. They’re great football minds, great students, so they can push me. 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.”
For Cousins to say that, and admit that he’s not really the mentor everyone thinks he is because he’s also learning just as much, says a lot. For example, Cousins has already made it clear that Mendoza needs to teach him that patented back-shoulder fade. It says he’s not got an ego, which we already knew. The Raiders need that in their room.