Former Raiders GM Tom Telesco shares a unique opinion on what the team has done with a new situation they’ve found themselves in
The former Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco spoke about the way the Raiders are handling the Fernando Mendoza situation.
The Las Vegas Raiders recently got their rookie contract done with No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. It took a while, but it’s finally done. And this was never a question of whether it would get done. It had to get done.
This was more so about what kind of money Mendoza was going to be getting at signing, things of that nature. The deal is done now, though, and fans can stop worrying. To outsiders, who used to be insiders, you could say, this made all the sense in the world. In fact, a former general manager even offered a bit of insider insight into how it all went down and how he sees it playing out.
Former Raiders GM Tom Telesco talks Fernando Mendoza contract and QB battle
“This was definitely going to get done,” former GM Tom Telesco said on Sirius XM Radio. “Tom Delaney has been doing their contract since Al Davis, and he’s one of the best in the league that does it. And I know Fernando Mendoza’s group, and they are really fair. Knowing those two groups, this was always going to get done. They did it the day before he had to report to camp. It sounds small, but it’s a big enough negotiation with a big enough number that you’d like to get as much of that as possible so you can get that invested.
“They’re gonna be patient with it and take their time, which is great. They hired a head coach with an offensive background who should work very well with a young quarterback, and they have a plan to develop him the right way. There are different ways to do it, but this was their plan. This is not a QB competition; Kirk Cousins’ job is going into September. But then after that, all bets are off.”
And this was before Tuesday, but we can now see that Telesco was right. On Tuesday, rookie head coach Klint Kubiak spoke to the media. He let everyone know that Cousins is the starter right now. That he’s starting Day 1 of training camp as the starter, and reps will be rotated.
Kubiak also informed everyone that just because a player starts Week 1 doesn’t mean they will start Week 17. It feels like we will see Mendoza at some point this season. Some Insiders even feel like we will see Mendoza start more games than Cousins in 2026, just not right away. For now, fans should just be happy the deal got done, and everyone can focus on training camp.