Fernando Mendoza Welcome To Las Vegas

[Sold My Soul]

Call your shot....or add your own.

Dante Moore:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Dante-Moore-QB-UCLA

Fernando Mendoza:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Fer ... California

May the football godz look kindly down upon the feeble and inept.

[raider_kin]

We're currently in the final leg of slog before football starts again. Every football topic, interesting or not, has been worn out like a re-used rubber.

Your analogy makes me go 'eeeeeeewwww' but you nailed it. We are just using ourselves up here waiting for the season to begin.

[Nor_Cal_Raider]

Precisely what do you mean with this comment?

If they don't want to risk putting AO on the practice squad I would think they intend him to be qb2 until the line has adjusted

[raidersince63]

There's a lot of conversations that have been thrown about concerning all 3 of our current QBs and how they stack up against each other...But the thing that seems to be lost when talking about our upcoming season is that according to Kubiak, our offense will be a "run first offense".

And a lot of attention has also been focussed on how important it is that the OL performs much better than last year and is able to keep our QB/s upright. But just as important, the success of the running game will be predicated on the ability of the OL to open the holes for our RB/s.

If the running games succeeds, more than likely, the passing game will also. And if that happens there will be more 1st downs, more extended drives, more scoring, and more time of possession. And the more time we keep our opponent's defense on the field the more likely they will be gassed by the 4th quarter while also keeping our young and developing defense off the field.

...run the f[raiders_icon]cking ball.

[Opoponax50]

I know it's probably a metaphor, but why would someone reuse a rubber?

But anyway, depending on the circumstances, and if Kube & Co. stick to their "plan" and decide that they're not ready to throw Mendo into a meat grinder, AOC could very well take over for Cousins.

Cool. I just think that if we see O'Connell before Mendoza then it means there will have been some serous bed-shitting on someone's part. I like that we signed Cousins so that Mendoza won't be thrown into the fire right away. However, we can't wait for everything to be perfect for him. At some point, for every single player in NFL history, there came a time to sink or swim. If Cousins goes down, the coaching staff needs to let our golden boy learn in the deep end of the pool.

"Next man up" is a solid truism and he needs to be the next man up if Cousins goes down early.

[16 to 88]

If they don't want to risk putting AO on the practice squad I would think they intend him to be qb2 until the line has adjusted

Training camp+preseason will give us our answers as Klint has already stated.

If Fernando overcomes both those QB's I'm not entirely convinced they will still start him. Even if he is head and shoulders above AO after the dust settles I wonder if they would be apprehensive of him being the #2 going into the season because if Cousins goes down right away now he will have to come in like it or not.

If he's in a tie at that point with AO I don't see them making him #2 until later on. From what I'm hearing it sounds like they don't want to rush him at all but if he comes on like gangbusters that could change everything. When it comes to AO being a #3 I could see them trying to trade him to a team that needs a back up and if not releasing him and giving him a chance elsewhere...

[raidersince63]

Cool. I just think that if we see O'Connell before Mendoza then it means there will have been some serous bed-shitting on someone's part. I like that we signed Cousins so that Mendoza won't be thrown into the fire right away. However, we can't wait for everything to be perfect for him. At some point, for every single player in NFL history, there came a time to sink or swim. If Cousins goes down, the coaching staff needs to let our golden boy learn in the deep end of the pool.

"Next man up" is a solid truism and he needs to be the next man up if Cousins goes down early.

Understood, and not saying that won't happen...but I believe that as of now, management's "plan" is focussed more on when they believe FM is truly ready regardless if/when Cousins is hurt or is ineffective. And if Cousins can't do the job but our coaches feel FM is still not quite ready, "the next man up" may very well be AOC.

If Mendo opens the season listed as "QB3" it's not necessarily a knock on him. Instead, it confirms that the Raiders are not going to change their "plan" by being hasty and inserting him into a situation they honestly don't believe he's quite ready for.

But one thing is certain, every time Cousins misses a receiver, or takes a sack, or throws an interception, there will be some Raider fans clamoring for Mendoza, but I suppose that is to be expected.

[ELCAraiderfan]

I predict Kirk Cousins will start the season, but will unfortunately go down to a season-ending injury in week 2, forcing Mendoza to step in and learn on the fly, eventually hitting his stride to notch an 11-5 record his rookie season while leading the Raiders back to the AFC Championship...

wait, I may have seen this movie before?

FYI, the teams play a 17 game season. been a 17 game season since 2021.

[Trainnvain]

FYI, the teams play a 17 game season. been a 17 game season since 2021.

He’s saying Mendoza comes in during the second game and leads the team to a 11-5 record in games he plays in.

[ELCAraiderfan]

He’s saying Mendoza comes in during the second game and leads the team to a 11-5 record in games he plays in.

Thanks for the clarification. Duh. I think responding to posts at 4am after no sleep for 36 hours, I think I shall not do that anymore.

[Reno Hightower]

Training camp+preseason will give us our answers as Klint has already stated.

If Fernando overcomes both those QB's I'm not entirely convinced they will still start him. Even if he is head and shoulders above AO after the dust settles I wonder if they would be apprehensive of him being the #2 going into the season because if Cousins goes down right away now he will have to come in like it or not.

If he's in a tie at that point with AO I don't see them making him #2 until later on. From what I'm hearing it sounds like they don't want to rush him at all but if he comes on like gangbusters that could change everything. When it comes to AO being a #3 I could see them trying to trade him to a team that needs a back up and if not releasing him and giving him a chance elsewhere...

I don't believe there is a set agenda regarding Fernando's accession other than it is contingent on the progress of the OL. Even if Mendoza has a phenomenal training camp and pre-season I doubt he would start if the line doesn't gel.

This will sound callous, but AOC's greatest value to the team is that it really doesn't matter if he gets injured. Obviously no one wants that but he adds serviceable depth until he doesn't.

[Raider Nation]

This will sound callous, but AOC's greatest value to the team is that it really doesn't matter if he gets injured. Obviously no one wants that but he adds serviceable depth until he doesn't.

My guess is that AOC is the penciled in back up to Mendo, if we trade Cousins early this season or Mendo’s backup in the future…. AOC has a lot more worth that the average casual forum member thinks!

[BoKnows81]

My guess is that AOC is the penciled in back up to Mendo, if we trade Cousins early this season or Mendo’s backup in the future…. AOC has a lot more worth that the average casual forum member thinks!

So when he's shipped off/released, does that mean the front office and regime are wrong?

He has ZERO worth.

[Hellbound]

My guess is that AOC is the penciled in back up to Mendo, if we trade Cousins early this season or Mendo’s backup in the future…. AOC has a lot more worth that the average casual forum member thinks!

Dude's a fringe back up in this league. After his rookie deal runs out, he'll bounce from team to team until he's out of the league and Im willing to bet, most if not all of his meaningful career playing time has already occurred

[Raiders Baby]

We're currently in the final leg of slog before football starts again. Every football topic, interesting or not, has been worn out like a re-used rubber.

O'Connell starting before Mendoza?

At any point this season?

Yeah-right.

If that were to happen, we might as well start our annual draft discussions in October again because it would mean Mendoza's a bust before he ever walked onto the field.

Cousins is a bridge in every sense of the term. If that bridge collapses, Mendoza is going to be taking the next snap, not O'Connell.

I am almost never the "thread police" guy, I generally agree it's better when more topics are available for discussion especially at this time of the year.

And AOC is a perfectly reasonable topic. He is a player on the Raiders, and actually there is stuff to talk about since his role is somewhat undefined.

But I can't help but laugh that the last 2 pages of the Mendoza thread is about AOC it's just so Raider fans

[Raiders Baby]

My guess is that AOC is the penciled in back up to Mendo, if we trade Cousins early this season or Mendo’s backup in the future…. AOC has a lot more worth that the average casual forum member thinks!

At one point, I wanted AOC to start. I didn't like when we brought in Minshew because I thought it was a better plan to see what we have in AOC. I didn't really want Geno for the same reason, although I have to admit I thought Geno would turn out better than he did.

My QB plan is basically "turn over as many stones as it takes until you find a good one". That can mean Mr Irrelevant like Brock Purdy, or 1st overall pick like Mendo. I thought it was a mistake not to try to see what we have in AOC in live action for this exact reason -- we used a 4th on him, let's see what he can do.

But that window has passed. 1) We bottomed out and got the 1st overall pick. We do not need to see what we have in AOC because now the focus has shifted to making sure our top asset pans out and 2) AOC has become a financial commitment.

In support of the point you made in your post, I do think AOC has a chance to earn a job this year. If he really excels under Klint, I could see us extending him as a long-term backup. But I think if he doesn't show that potential, he will be outright cut and we will keep one of the UDFAs.

In other words, it's long-term backup or bust for AOC. He's too expensive to keep strictly to be our emergency 3rd this year, so he either needs to show he can be a quality QB2 for next year and beyond, or it's time to move on.