Fernando Mendoza sits on the bench for the Las Vegas Raiders again Sunday, not playing for the fourth straight game of his rookie season after becoming the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick. What’s going on with the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner?
The Raiders appear to have decided that Mendoza, who turned 23 on Thursday, will not play this season unless starting QB Kirk Cousins, a 38-year-old, 15-year veteran, gets hurt.
Cousins has taken every snap during Las Vegas’ 3-0 start, leaving Mendoza without a regular-season turn and without an announced date for one.
Kickoff at Allegiant Stadium is 4:25 p.m. ET (1:25 p.m. PT), and the league’s late-window inactives had not been posted this morning. But Mendoza is healthy and absent from the injury report, according to CBS Sports. He is expected to dress as the No. 2 quarterback.
Fernando Mendoza’s Status as Las Vegas Raiders Backup
Mendoza has yet to appear in a regular-season game, and his NFL.com logs are blank for Weeks 1 through 3.
Cousins sits first on the depth chart, with Mendoza second and Aidan O’Connell third. O’Connell missed practice Wednesday through Friday for a personal matter, not an injury, and was cleared Saturday, according to the Football Database Raiders injury report. He is expected to be listed as a healthy scratch, so Cousins and Mendoza will be the two active quarterbacks.
“That’s the life of an NFL backup … prepare on his own in the darkness and the shadows, and then when called upon, go win the game,” Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said, quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kubiak’s description fits Mendoza’s game-day job. He suits up as the backup, prepares as the next man in and watch from the sideline. A September clip of him yawning on the Chargers sideline drew attention, but he has said a mental coach told him yawning is his body cooling down when he runs hot, according to another Las Vegas Review-Journal report.
Fernando Mendoza’s First Start Timeline for Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders have not announced a debut or a first start. They named Cousins the Week 1 starter and Mendoza the backup, according to NBC Sports, which also called a Mendoza takeover at some point in 2026 almost certain.
Barring a Cousins injury, the 3-0 start keeps the veteran in place, according to CBS Sports. The earliest window would likely be Week 8 at the New York Jets on Nov. 1, if Las Vegas loses its next four games and falls under .500. A second window opens in Week 14 against the Los Angeles Chargers after the bye, if the team is out of contention or Cousins has faded.
At OTAs in May, Cousins took all the first-team reps, O’Connell ran second and Mendoza worked third, mostly with rookies, while learning under-center West Coast concepts.
“He’s as advertised. He has not disappointed,” Kubiak said, per The Athletic‘s coverage of Raiders OTAs.
Fernando Gabriel Mendoza V, born Oct. 1, 2003, in Boston, grew up in Miami in a family of Cuban descent. He starred at Christopher Columbus High School but drew little recruiting attention, committed to Yale and signed with Cal in February 2022, according to the BBC’s profile of Mendoza.
He transferred to Indiana, went 16-0 as a starter in 2025 and became the first Heisman Trophy winner in school history. The Raiders then made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft.
Why Isn’t Fernando Mendoza Playing Today? What’s Going on With Raiders QB?