Fernando Mendoza ‘growing pains’ explain Raiders’ plan for Kirk Cousins originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Fernando Mendoza was the No. 1 overall pick out of Indiana after winning a national championship and a Heisman Trophy with the Hoosiers.
That doesn’t guarantee him the Las Vegas Raiders‘ starting QB job for Week 1.
In fact, odds are that Mendoza won’t be the starter to open the regular season.
Vegas brought in Kirk Cousins in the offseason, and the expectation has seemingly been all along that the QB1 gig is Cousins’ to lose, at least temporarily.
Part of the reason why is that Mendoza still has some adjustments to make.
“He’s had his fair share of growing pains, especially when playing under center, and mastering the footwork that comes with it,” ESPN’s Ryan McFadden wrote as part of a new article on Monday. “With veteran Kirk Cousins on the roster, the Raiders don’t feel like they need to rush Mendoza.”
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That’s a classic adjustment going from the modern college game to the NFL. There’s just a lot of shotgun in college, including what Mendoza did at IU.
Still, even if he picks up on that, don’t expect the Raiders to be in a hurry.
“The Raiders have been patient with Mendoza’s adjustment to the next level, having him play mostly with the second and third teams during OTAs and minicamp,” McFadden writes. “He has impressed many in the building with his work ethic, leadership qualities and ability to quickly find open targets for completions.”
Vegas has clearly determined that it doesn’t want to jump the gun on Mendoza’s deployment on an NFL field.
The Raiders know, of course, that the best thing that can happen is Mendoza develops into a long-term star, not just a quick flash in the pan.
He’s got the traits to be the face of the franchise, and Vegas clearly doesn’t want to jeopardize that by moving too fast.
The fact that Mendoza still has plenty to learn only makes their thinking a little bit easier.
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