Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza will make his first regular-season start Sunday at 1:05 p.m. against the Seattle Seahawks at Allegiant Stadium. The move comes after the team traded veteran Kirk Cousins back to the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday for a third-round draft pick. General manager John Spytek and coach Klint Kubiak presented Cousins with the trade opportunity, and he approved it after confiding to those around him that Mendoza was ready to step in, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Mendoza was unaware of the impending trade and was in the locker room when the news broke. Hours later, he remained at the team's Henderson facility "studying," a level of diligence Kubiak cited as a factor in the organization's confidence to move on from Cousins. The Raiders enter the game as 6.5-point underdogs against the 5-4 defending Super Bowl champions in what is being called the team's most anticipated home game since a 2022 playoff loss at Cincinnati.
Coach Klint Kubiak's familiarity with the Seahawks could provide an advantage. Kubiak spent last season as Seattle's offensive coordinator, where he practiced daily against head coach Mike Macdonald's defense and was a finalist for Assistant Coach of the Year. He even hired defensive coordinator Rob Leonard based on their shared history with Macdonald in Baltimore. However, Macdonald also knows Kubiak's tendencies, though Kubiak is now working with an entirely new cast of players in Las Vegas while Seattle's personnel remains largely intact.
The game will air on CBS (KLAS Channel 8), stream on Paramount+, and broadcast on Raider Nation Radio 920 AM. Mendoza was expected to start at some point during his rookie season, though the timeline accelerated after Cousins played well enough to command a significant return at the trade deadline.
Sources: Las Vegas Sun
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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