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The Las Vegas Raiders gave Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby a punishment on Saturday after the two veterans got into a little scuffle during practice on Friday — and that paved the way for Fernando Mendoza to shine in his first-team reps.
Crosby and Cousins got into a heated exchange during the previous practice after the former hit the latter’s arm on two separate occasions.
Cousins confronted Crosby and gave him a little shove before exchanging words with the five-time Pro Bowler.
Before practice, head coach Klint Kubiak revealed that both Crosby and Cousins violated team rules and would sit out practice on Saturday, which allowed Mendoza to get first-team reps.
MORE: Ex-NFL player says Kirk Cousins could ‘beat the tattoos off’ Maxx Crosby
And the rookie went on to have a strong practice.
“So Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby were essentially on a time out, today, after the scuffle they got into at Raiders practice yesterday, per Klint Kubiak,” Bonsignore wrote.
“As a result of this, Fernando Mendoza took all the 1st team reps today,” Bonsignore added. “He did not disappoint, whatsoever. Looked comfortable, anticipatory, accurate and in charge.”
That’s certainly an encouraging sign for Mendoza, who is slated to start the season as the Raiders’ backup quarterback behind Cousins.
MORE: Raiders draw attention with unique 2026 NFL season-ticket package
Here’s what Kubiak said about the punishments for Crosby and Cousins.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business and we violated that yesterday, so held those guys out. That’s all I’m gonna say about it,” Kubiak said, per The Athletic’s Sam Warren.
Las Vegas Raiders quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza (15) and Kirk Cousins (8) throw the ball as assistant head coach Mike McCoy (left) watches during minicamp at Intermountain Health Performance Center. (Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect)
We typically see No. 1 overall picks at quarterback start right away, but that will not be the case with Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders have confirmed.
The reason behind that has to do with Klint Kubiak’s desire to take things slow with young quarterbacks, something he touched on before drafting Mendoza.
“Ideally, you don’t want him to start from Day 1,” he said back in March. “You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world.
“It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes they have to play from Day 1, and it’s our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.”
MORE: Eagles OT Lane Johnson reveals where he stands on retirement
One reason this is a good plan is because the Raiders can evaluate what they have around the young signal-caller before throwing him out there.
If the offensive line and/or the weapons in the passing game aren’t good enough, the last thing the Raiders want to do is put Mendoza into that situation.
We’ve seen far too many times over the years where young quarterbacks struggle with a bad supporting cast and don’t recover.
All that said, we would not rule out Mendoza getting into the starting lineup at some point in 2026.
Cousins has clearly been on the decline in recent years and if things go south, we could very well see Mendoza get his shot.
— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —
Continue reading...
Crosby and Cousins got into a heated exchange during the previous practice after the former hit the latter’s arm on two separate occasions.
Cousins confronted Crosby and gave him a little shove before exchanging words with the five-time Pro Bowler.
Before practice, head coach Klint Kubiak revealed that both Crosby and Cousins violated team rules and would sit out practice on Saturday, which allowed Mendoza to get first-team reps.
MORE: Ex-NFL player says Kirk Cousins could ‘beat the tattoos off’ Maxx Crosby
And the rookie went on to have a strong practice.
“So Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby were essentially on a time out, today, after the scuffle they got into at Raiders practice yesterday, per Klint Kubiak,” Bonsignore wrote.
“As a result of this, Fernando Mendoza took all the 1st team reps today,” Bonsignore added. “He did not disappoint, whatsoever. Looked comfortable, anticipatory, accurate and in charge.”
That’s certainly an encouraging sign for Mendoza, who is slated to start the season as the Raiders’ backup quarterback behind Cousins.
MORE: Raiders draw attention with unique 2026 NFL season-ticket package
Here’s what Kubiak said about the punishments for Crosby and Cousins.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business and we violated that yesterday, so held those guys out. That’s all I’m gonna say about it,” Kubiak said, per The Athletic’s Sam Warren.
Why Fernando Mendoza isn’t starting
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Las Vegas Raiders quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza (15) and Kirk Cousins (8) throw the ball as assistant head coach Mike McCoy (left) watches during minicamp at Intermountain Health Performance Center. (Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect)
We typically see No. 1 overall picks at quarterback start right away, but that will not be the case with Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders have confirmed.
The reason behind that has to do with Klint Kubiak’s desire to take things slow with young quarterbacks, something he touched on before drafting Mendoza.
“Ideally, you don’t want him to start from Day 1,” he said back in March. “You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world.
“It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes they have to play from Day 1, and it’s our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.”
MORE: Eagles OT Lane Johnson reveals where he stands on retirement
One reason this is a good plan is because the Raiders can evaluate what they have around the young signal-caller before throwing him out there.
If the offensive line and/or the weapons in the passing game aren’t good enough, the last thing the Raiders want to do is put Mendoza into that situation.
We’ve seen far too many times over the years where young quarterbacks struggle with a bad supporting cast and don’t recover.
All that said, we would not rule out Mendoza getting into the starting lineup at some point in 2026.
Cousins has clearly been on the decline in recent years and if things go south, we could very well see Mendoza get his shot.
— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —
Continue reading...
