The Las Vegas Raiders fell in their preseason opener to the Arizona Cardinals. After that contest, the Silver and Black will now turn their attention to their second game against the Houston Texans on Aug. 20 at NRG Stadium.
Las Vegas’ game against the Texans could allow for head coach Klint Kubiak to give Fernando Mendoza more time out on the field than he did against the Cardinals. In his preseason debut, Mendoza went 10 of 16 for 97 passing yards and one touchdown.
Moreover, what he showed against Arizona has many wondering whether the Raiders should go with the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft as their QB1 rather than Kirk Cousins.
Nonetheless, NBC Sports NFL insider Mike Florio floated a theory that Cousins is currently QB1 because the Raiders’ minority owner, Tom Brady, believes Mendoza should sit.
“The Raiders need a spark,” Florio said on the Aug. 14 edition of “PFT Live.” “The Raiders need to get a return on their investment. And the sooner Fernando Mendoza plays, the sooner the game slows down.
“I hate to think that this approach to sitting Fernando Mendoza for maybe a full season is simply because that’s what Tommy wants. And I also hate to think that Tommy wants it because he didn’t play as a rookie. So I didn’t play as a rookie. So that must be the right approach for everyone.”
Tom Brady Might Use What Worked for Him
Moreover, Florio believes that just because sitting out his rookie season and learning from the sidelines worked for Brady, that doesn’t mean it’s the right approach in 2026.
“If Brady was showing [the New England Patriots] the stuff that caused them to carry four quarterbacks on the roster that year, chances are, at some point in 2000, when they went 5-11, he would have had a chance to play,” Florio added. “So just because it works specifically for him doesn’t mean it’s the right way in today’s NFL.
“I think in today’s NFL, if you’re going to use that number one overall pick on a quarterback, you better get that quarterback ready to play. He better be a guy who you think can play right away. And if he’s not, you need to pick somebody else. You need to trade out of that spot.”
Raiders Should Do What’s Best for Fernando Mendoza
Despite Florio’s claim that Brady was involved in this decision-making process for Mendoza’s development, Michael Holley pushed back and stated that each QB is evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine whether they should sit.
“I think it just goes case by case,” Holley said in the same segment. “If you look at Cam Ward, and I know it’s only preseason, it’s his second year, but Cam Ward looks like a guy who could have benefited from a redshirt year.
“I know it’s a different era of the NFL. You go back now, oh my goodness, it was 23 years ago when the Bengals drafted Carson Palmer No. 1 overall, and he sat pretty much the entire year. He did. He sat the entire year, and then he was ready to go the next year and looked good.
“So Peyton Manning played that first year, and he kind of looked like Peyton Manning, but then he kind of looked like young Vinny Testaverde, too. He threw a lot of touchdown passes, but threw a lot of interceptions. I think if you really are invested in the quarterback, you do what’s best for him.”
Raiders Issued Major Tom Brady Theory Before Texans Preseason Game