Raiders turn to 14-year veteran Kirk Cousins to support Fernando Mendoza’s development

Barring any wild and unexpected turn of events in the next few weeks, Fernando Mendoza will be selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the 1st overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Raiders have already paved the way to draft Mendoza, as they traded Geno Smith earlier in the offseason and let Kenny Pickett go in free agency.

Fernando Mendoza's Pro Day quote is exactly what Indiana fans have come to expect

As it stands, the only other QB on Las Vegas' roster is Aidan O'Connell. Wanting to add more veteran experience to their QB room, the Raiders made the move to bring in a 14-year veteran leading up to the NFL Draft.

Kirk Cousins signs free agent contract with the Las Vegas Raiders

On Thursday morning, Kirk Cousins signed a free agent contract with the Raiders. The move was announced on social media by his agent Mike McCartney. Cousins has been linked to the Raiders throughout the offseason, and now he is officially set to join the rebuilding franchise under first year head coach Klint Kubiak.

Cousins is quite familiar with Kubiak through their time together with the Minnesota Vikings. Kubiak was Cousins' quarterbacks coach with Minnesota in 2019 and 2020, and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2021.

Cousins has seen a little bit of everything in his 14-year NFL career, and figures to make for a solid mentor for Mendoza as he begins his professional career. Cousins has 174 NFL games under his belt, and has racked up 44,700 passing yards to go along with 298 touchdowns in his career.

Raiders GM John Spytek said earlier in the offseason that a rookie QB shouldn't necessarily be expected to start from Day 1. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what kind of quarterback battle ensues between Mendoza and Cousins.

Mendoza seems likely to be the frontrunner to be Las Vegas' Week 1 starter, but with Cousins in the mix the Raiders seem to be open to all available possibilities.