Klint Kubiak's chosen veteran will begin training camp as the Raiders' offensive director.
Kubiak told reporters on Tuesday that Kirk Cousins will start off as the Raiders' starting quarterback when they begin their first practice on Wednesday.
"For every position, there's gotta be competition, right? The best player has to play, and that's not just what I'm gonna see," Kubiak explained to reporters. "You guys are gonna see it in the preseason games. We as coaches, we're gonna see who the best guard is, the best quarterback, across the board. There's battles everywhere on the roster. It's important for me to be fair to the players to put the best player out there.
"When we go out to practice tomorrow, Kirk Cousins is the starting quarterback. He's the guy, and he's going to get a ton of reps. He deserves them because he's played really good football. But I want Fernando (Mendoza) and I want Aidan (O'Connell) to push him."
Kubiak hasn't hidden his intentions with how he'll handle the quarterback position in 2026. In late March, Kubiak said he'd prefer to avoid starting Mendoza, the eventual No. 1 overall pick in April, from Day 1, revealing he'd rather Mendoza learn behind a veteran capable of handling the job for the time being. A few days later, Las Vegas signed Cousins to fulfill Kubiak's wish.
From that point onward, Cousins has been expected to begin the 2026 season as Las Vegas' starter. How long that lasts remains to be determined, but as of now, everything is following Kubiak's plan.
In a perfect world, Mendoza and O'Connell push Cousins and all three improve. Eventually, Mendoza is deemed ready to take over for Cousins at some point in the 2026 season, but not before Cousins leads the Raiders' offense through the fire of the early season while Mendoza finds his footing.
So far, so good. After washing out of Atlanta, Cousins has found a new opportunity to potentially start in the NFL. Mendoza has a veteran capable of helping him along. The Raiders appear set to continue to follow this plan until a change -- or advancement to the next stage of Mendoza's development -- is necessary.
