Raiderstation

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.

BoKnows81 wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2026 9:31 am Just out of curiosity, I know you were very against AOC starting ahead of Mendoza, as was I. But i have to ask, what is your reasoning for being so against AOC starting but so for Cousins starting? They both offer the exact same at this point. And that is nothing.

At some point relatively soon, Mendoza needs to get on the field. The people advocating for O'Connell to be #2 seemed to want to put our #1 pick in bubblewrap until everything's perfect for him. I want Cousins to take the initial hits and for our O to get sorted out to some reasonable degree, but Mendoza is our future. Putting O'Connell on the field before him unnecessarily delays that. And, if Cousins goes down in the first game, then Mendoza is going to have to be ready to deal with whatever the situation is.

Opoponax50 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2026 9:22 am At some point relatively soon, Mendoza needs to get on the field. The people advocating for O'Connell to be #2 seemed to want to put our #1 pick in bubblewrap until everything's perfect for him. I want Cousins to take the initial hits and for our O to get sorted out to some reasonable degree, but Mendoza is our future. Putting O'Connell on the field before him unnecessarily delays that. And, if Cousins goes down in the first game, then Mendoza is going to have to be ready to deal with whatever the situation is.

oconnell offers nothing to the raiders, same goes for cousins. all 3 qbs are learning kubiaks system, all cousins has over fernando at this point is experience but fernando is more mobile and has a much bigger arm...i think waiting for the oline to gel is a fantasy also. its time to get the future of this franchise in the game and learning imo

mstrbass2000 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 7:16 am oconnell offers nothing to the raiders, same goes for cousins. all 3 qbs are learning kubiaks system, all cousins has over fernando at this point is experience but fernando is more mobile and has a much bigger arm...i think waiting for the oline to gel is a fantasy also. its time to get the future of this franchise in the game and learning imo

We dont even know what we have in Mendoza yet, he could suck for all we know. Wouldnt be the first time a #1 overall pick didnt live up to the hype. Lets just calm our jets and wait it out until we see what he can do against NFL level competition. I think he will probably be good and wish him well, but lets wait and see first before anointing him the next Tom Brady. Also Cousins is familiar with Kubiaks system, he had his best years under Kubiak.

rich72 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 1:14 pm We dont even know what we have in Mendoza yet, he could suck for all we know. Wouldnt be the first time a #1 overall pick didnt live up to the hype. Lets just calm our jets and wait it out until we see what he can do against NFL level competition.

We know more than most think. This is not like in the day when all you could do is look at the tape. We have all sorts of advanced metrics to measure probability. Here is a short list of what we know
1. Intelligence, perhaps the number one trait that you can measure on the player and we know he is very intelligent
2. Character, we see this repeatedly in his life. Character, or moral compass is the thing that both Russell and Leaf did not have and the flags were there well ahead of time
3. Ability, we know he can make a large number of the throws and is accurate as hell
4. Stature, his frame is large and as he adds a bit of girth his frame will resemble that of Rothlesburger, and able to take a lot of hits
5. Speed, not a burner but a guy who sees holes and hits them when needed
6. Trainability. We saw that with the move from Cal to Indiana
7. Leadership, we have seen time and time again that he leads his players by both his example and humility
8. Work ethic. We saw that in many games where he did not enjoy the moment but was on the sidelines looking at film on the devices

What we do not know
1. Will he be able to absorb the pressure and hits at the next level. Make no mistake, he will be under extreme pressure as the number one pick
2. Will the speed of the game overwhelm him? Likely no due to his intelligence but it is a question for sure
3. Will he be able to work under center effectively? Certainly we brought in that exact center to help but it is not a certainty
4. Will he gel? This one is tricky simply because of number one and number two
5. Can he take the losses he will likely take early and not fold. Losing is certainly a disease and some never recover

There will be questions but we know a lot of things that are positives. The questions will take time but his intelligence and character are two traits I bet on every time when it comes to the position. It is why I developed quick questions about our last full time starter, he had character but his intelligence certainly came under extreme scrutiny.

Has he signed yet ? Ok I’ll check back later

raiders72 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 3:08 pm Has he signed yet ? Ok I’ll check back later

Yes, he has signed, but they are intentionally pissing everyone off by not announcing it, Fully guaranteed at 4 years at 57.2M with a sully funded 38.1M signing bonus. You are welcome

mstrbass2000 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 7:16 am oconnell offers nothing to the raiders, same goes for cousins. all 3 qbs are learning kubiaks system, all cousins has over fernando at this point is experience but fernando is more mobile and has a much bigger arm...i think waiting for the oline to gel is a fantasy also. its time to get the future of this franchise in the game and learning imo

Cousins played under Kubiak when he was the oc in Minnesota. He already knows the system. Fernando needs to learn how the NFL works, Kubiak offense and still needs to be able to take snaps from under center. And that's a bigger learning curve than just saying "he can learn that on the job".
Dude's a rookie, and even though he might've been the most pro ready qb in the draft (an admittedly shitty qb draft), he still has alot to learn and do to show he's ready. Kubiak will start him when he deems ready to do so

Hellbound wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 3:39 pm Cousins played under Kubiak when he was the oc in Minnesota. He already knows the system. Fernando needs to learn how the NFL works, Kubiak offense and still needs to be able to take snaps from under center. And that's a bigger learning curve than just saying "he can learn that on the job".
Dude's a rookie, and even though he might've been the most pro ready qb in the draft (an admittedly shitty qb draft), he still has alot to learn and do to show he's ready. Kubiak will start him when he deems ready to do so

100%...and what you pointed out has been echoed by many for months now but some still refuse to accept it.

Hellbound wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 3:39 pm Cousins played under Kubiak when he was the oc in Minnesota. He already knows the system. Fernando needs to learn how the NFL works, Kubiak offense and still needs to be able to take snaps from under center. And that's a bigger learning curve than just saying "he can learn that on the job".
Dude's a rookie, and even though he might've been the most pro ready qb in the draft (an admittedly shitty qb draft), he still has alot to learn and do to show he's ready. Kubiak will start him when he deems ready to do so

yeah, i get that as the reason why we signed cousins to help fernando learn faster ...everyone knows the dude is just a placeholder for fernando at this point, i see no benefit to letting cousins start over #1 pick. fernando is more mobile,fernando is more accurate, he ist more explosive and the biggest thing is getting him experience

the argument for cousin to start is so the oline can gel but with cousins being immobile and having an avg arm and avg accuracy ...what is the benefit of going 0-4 then bringing him ???

raidersince63 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 5:19 pm 100%...and what you pointed out has been echoed by many for months now but some still refuse to accept it.

the biggest need for fernando is experience a nd getting caught up to game speed,starting cousins doesn't help with that and may put him in an 0-4 hole

It's really this simple. Mendoza starts when he's ready and when he gives us the best chance to win. Game 1, game 4, game 12, game 1 next year, doesn't matter.

Raider_Dave wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2026 7:35 pm It's really this simple. Mendoza starts when he's ready and when he gives us the best chance to win. Game 1, game 4, game 12, game 1 next year, doesn't matter.

conventional thinking is not what im looking for witht he raiders, we need to be out the box a little more...sitting fernando to save him is nuts when we all know he is the future and chomping at the bit to be the starter...cousins offers us zero upside for the raiders

mstrbass2000 wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 6:57 am conventional thinking is not what im looking for witht he raiders, we need to be out the box a little more...sitting fernando to save him is nuts when we all know he is the future and chomping at the bit to be the starter...cousins offers us zero upside for the raiders

Another thing to note in all of this start Fernando or bust, the staff wants him to earn the job too. He isn't just going to be handed the job. The staff has also made that abundantly clear

Hellbound wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 7:08 am Another thing to note in all of this start Fernando or bust, the staff wants him to earn the job too. He isn't just going to be handed the job. The staff has also made that abundantly clear

yes, we have all seen the talking heads reports and conventional thought is cousins starts...i want the raiders to be bold about it and get the kid in the game so he can learn from it and get up to game speed pronto

Hellbound wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 7:08 am Another thing to note in all of this start Fernando or bust, the staff wants him to earn the job too. He isn't just going to be handed the job. The staff has also made that abundantly clear

Yes, and the staff is the only opinion that really matters...media "experts" are only talking to get a paycheck.