Kirk Cousins doesn’t want to be known as a mentor to rookie Fernando Mendoza, calling the title “a bit of a reach.” Instead, the veteran quarterback says the dynamic is a collaboration.
"[It’s] more of a narrative than it is the truth,” Cousins said Tuesday, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN. “They’re pretty good players, pretty experienced, and I’m learning a lot from them, too, and asking questions to them.
“Nobody’s leading more than someone else. I think we’re all a working force together, helping each other, giving feedback, giving perspective [and] giving another set of eyes.”
Cousins, 37, signed with the Raiders only three weeks before they drafted Mendoza with the No. 1 overall. Cousins has the most experience and the most knowledge of Klint Kubiak’s offense, with the two having spent time together in Minnesota. But Aidan O’Connell, in his fourth season with the team, has the most familiarity with the organization.
Cousins said he, O’Connell and Mendoza have all participated in the learning process and pushed each other to get better.
“I’ve always felt I prepare my best during the season when we can all kind of be together in that room in the evening, going over things together rather than working in our own,” Cousins said. “I think when we can kind of all be given feedback on each other, that’s when I think the best ideas come out.”
Raiders Clips
New Raiders linebacker Nakobe Dean missed all of the voluntary offseason program. He was at the team’s media day on Monday, with Dean posting a photo on social media of himself in his uniform against a green screen.
Dean, though, was not present on the field at the team’s mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
“No, there’s no concern,” Raiders assistant head coach Mike McCoy. “He’s a pro. This is the offseason. The number one thing is that we’re taking it one day at a time, and we can get through these next couple days and minicamp and you get through training camp. The key thing is to have everybody as fresh as possible and ready to go for the opener. That’s the number one focus.”
Dean’s absence is unclear.
He has played only 47 of 68 possible games in his career, missing time with a pectoral injury, a foot injury, a patellar tendon tear and a hamstring injury.
Dean spent his first four seasons in Philadelphia after the Eagles made him a third-round pick in 2022. He totaled 226 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and five passes defensed.
At some point, Fernando Mendoza will be the Raiders’ starting quarterback. He’s not that yet.
The No. 1 overall pick is working behind Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell in the offseason program, paying his dues and learning the ropes.
“I’m just trying to work every single day, and right now, I’m repping with the threes and a little bit with the twos,” Mendoza said Tuesday, via Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So, right now I’m just trying to prove myself and do the best in whatever rep I get and treat every rep like it’s a Super Bowl.”
New coach Klint Kubiak has repeatedly said he would prefer that a rookie quarterback not start Day 1, and the sportsbooks like Cousins to start Week 1. But the Raiders are giving Mendoza every chance to win the job, and he is doing his best to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I think there’s always a transition, especially from the college level to the NFL level, and it’s having those positive stressors, and that growing period,” Mendoza said. “There are going to be some growing pains. Luckily, I feel confident that I’m able to see the field well. My growing pains are coming from, ‘Hey, I’ve got to time up my footwork a little bit with the routes,’ and intricacies here and there. I’m really working hard with the coaching staff, who are pushing me, and have done a phenomenal job of relaying and communicating the information needed. It’s up to me take full advantage of that.
“I feel like I’ve been growing every day, from the first day of OTAs, then today at minicamp. I feel like I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.”
More than 90 percent of the players selected in the 2026 NFL draft have signed their rookie contracts. Among the players who remain unsigned, there are two big clusters, at the top of the third round and the top of the fourth round.
The first six players drafted in the third round are still unsigned: Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck, Broncos defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim, Raiders defensive end Keyron Crawford, Eagles tackle Markel Bell, Bears tight end Sam Roush and 49ers edge rusher Romello Height.
The first seven players drafted in the fourth round are also unsigned: Raiders cornerback Jermond McCoy, Bills tackle Jude Bowry, Jets defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr., Cardinals defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, Chargers wide receiver Brenen Thompson, Texans guard Febechi Nwaiwu and 49ers defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Those 13 players make up the majority of the 2026 draft picks who haven’t signed their rookie contracts yet.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said on the team’s YouTube show that high third and fourth-round picks are encouraged by the players’ union to ask for contract provisions that the players in the previous round are getting.
“A lot of years it was the third round took forever,” Beane said. “The union is constantly trying to push down everything from the second round into the third round, and then the third round to make the fourth round better. In this CBA it feels like the fourth round has become more difficult.”
Beane said he understand why Bowry’s agent doesn’t want him to sign until he sees what other fourth-round picks can get, but he thinks it will work itself out before training camp.
“Sometimes agents are a little afraid to do something if the guy in front of them hasn’t done it,” Beane said. “They don’t want to look bad. It’s all recruiting. Jude’s been great. Until it’s done it’s not done, but we’re optimistic.”
A handful of first- and second-round picks also remain unsigned. Every player picked in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds has signed.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy will be coaching Aaron Rodgers again this season and another one of his Packers stars came up during last week’s OTAs.
Charles Woodson won defensive player of the year and helped the Packers to a Super Bowl while playing a versatile role in the back end of their defense. That came after a long and successful run at cornerback with the Raiders and changing positions gave his career a stellar second act.
Steelers secondary coach Joe Whitt was on the Packers’ staff in those days and he believes Steelers defensive back Jalen Ramsey “has a similar skill set, similar size, similar speed” to the Hall of Famer. Whitt said he expects the Steelers to use Ramsey in a similar fashion as a result and McCarthy concurred with that view of how Ramsey fits into their plans.
“When Charles came to Green Bay — when we moved him inside and he played the nickel — I thought his game went to a whole different level,” McCarthy said, via Chris Harlan of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I thought Jalen has the same ability. He’s a special piece to our defense. He can play nickel, he can play corner, he can play dime and can also play safety. I’m really looking forward to working with him, but yeah, I can see exactly why Joe says that. That’s an excellent comparison.”
Ramsey is still getting used to the new defense things and said that things “have to evolve,” but that he has taken pride in “being able to do different things” on the field and the prospect of a back half of a career similar to Woodson’s should be an appealing one.
Back in March, it looked like the Raiders would enter their next era under head coach Klint Kubiak with a new quarterback but without their top edge rusher.
But then the Ravens backed out of the trade for Maxx Crosby.
Now Crosby and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza are poised to lead Las Vegas together, on opposite sides of the ball.
Crosby, who is still rehabbing his left knee after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus, told reporters on Wednesday that his first impressions of Mendoza have been very positive.
“He’s an awesome kid,” Crosby said, via transcript from the team. “Everyone knows his ability, what they’ve seen, especially this past season at Indiana. It couldn’t have been a greater year for an individual player at a college level, winning the Heisman, winning the Natty, not losing a game, having a game-winning touchdown in the national championship. Like, he checked every single box and some, but now you come to the NFL and you’re on ground zero.
I think that’s what the most important thing is when you’re a young guy coming in the league, is realizing that.
“It’s like, listen you don’t just come in and say, OK now you just start where you left off in college — that’s not the reality. You come here and you have to earn your respect all over again and build up trust within your teammates, your coaches and the whole nine. So, Fernando has been awesome. He’s a great kid. He has great work ethic. I had a lot of the young guys over at the house, we watched Game 7 [of the NBA Western Conference Finals], and Fernando was unfortunately behind me in a game of horse, and I destroyed him. I got him out of there quick. So, he’s got to work on the jump shot, but ultimately he’s a competitor and he’s learning and getting better every single day. So, I’m really excited for what he’s going to bring to this team, and you can already feel just his energy on a daily basis has been extremely consistent.”
Fortunately for the Raiders, the club isn’t counting on Mendoza to excel at basketball.
With veteran Kirk Cousins around, it remains to be seen when Mendoza will ascend to QB1. But Mendoza is undoubtedly going to be a big part of Las Vegas’ future.
The Ravens backed out of a trade for Maxx Crosby in March after the edge rusher failed their physical. The team reportedly was concerned about Crosby’s durability because of a degenerative issue in his knee.
Crosby and the Raiders don’t share those concerns.
He is back with the Raiders and still rehabbing from a January surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Jan. 7. Crosby jogged and stretched with teammates at Wednesday’s OTA before going inside to continue his physical therapy.
Crosby expects to be back soon.
“I’m at the point where I’m almost there, but I forget that I need to relax a little bit, so that’s kind of been the biggest battle right now,” Crosby said, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN.
Crosby played through the left knee injury from Week 7 last season before going on injured reserve on Dec. 27.
“Ultimately, it has probably been the best [rehab] by far, and we’re not even to the finish line,” Crosby said. “It’s been better because I’ve been able to focus on other things. Whether that’s being in the weight room, like I’m moving more weight than I ever have, and doing things in a different way, and being able to get my body the proper rest that it actually needs.
“This has forced me to have to take a step back in certain areas and not run 8,000 yards on the field every single day.”
Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby says he has long since moved on from the failed attempt to trade him to the Ravens.
“I don’t really want to talk about that, to be honest. It’s water under the bridge. It’s a long time ago,” Crosby said. “I’m here and I want to be here and I’m excited to be here and I’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s water under the bridge.”
The Raiders and Ravens agreed in March to a deal that would have sent Crosby to Baltimore in exchange for two first-round draft picks, but the Ravens nixed the trade after giving Crosby a physical and raising concerns about the health of his knee. Crosby is still rehabbing his knee injury but is attending voluntary offseason work and described himself as “almost back” to being healthy enough to fully participate in practice.
“I want to be out there and be part of the team,” Crosby said. “I just love what I do and I love playing football and I love being on the field.”
The Raiders have a new coaching staff, and Crosby said he’s excited to play for them.
“We have an extremely smart and great leader of men in Klint Kubiak,” Crosby said.
And it’s a coaching staff Crosby is fully committed to playing for, three months after thinking he was on the way out.
Raiders tight end Brock Bowers made five catches for 103 yards in Week 1 of last season, but he injured his knee. He played through it the following three games, making only 14 catches for 122 yards before the Raiders shut him down until Week 9.
Bowers made 64 receptions for 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games in 2025, well short of his rookie season.
He is again full speed, while practicing with the team in organized team activities.
“I feel great,” Bowers said Thursday. “I mean, it feels good to be back out there, practicing at full speed. Getting back into football with all the guys again. I had a good offseason working out, staying healthy and trying to get back to 100 percent.”
That is great news for Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza, as the Raiders have their top weapon back in his 2024 form when he earned first-team All-Pro honors.
Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft, has been making a positive impression on his new offensive coordinator.
While Klint Kubiak is set to call Las Vegas’ offensive plays, first-year OC Andrew Janocko will also be one of the architects of Mendoza’s development.
Janocko said on Thursday that Mendoza’s approach to learning the pro game has been a positive for the club so far.
“I think he’s a guy that wants to come in and grind every day, work,” Janocko said in his press conference. “All three of those guys [Mendoza, Kirk Cousins, Aidan O’Connell] come in every single day and they want to work, they want to learn, they want to be the best in the world. He’s got two guys in the room with him that just set an unbelievable example with the way they work, the way they prepare. So he’s able to see that and grow within himself.”
Though Mendoza will take over as Las Vegas’ QB1 sooner than later, right now the Raiders like that the young QB is interested in going beyond the surface level as he learns the offense.
“I think that’s something we ask from all quarterbacks — is just to know the whys behind every play,” Janocko said. “Know the what, know the whys, and be ready to go above and beyond the Xs and Os at times to make things right. And to know where guys are at and where they’re supposed to be at, so that you can help guys, knowing not [just] your job, but the other 10 jobs as well.”
To that end, Cousins and O’Connell have been a benefit to Mendoza. But the club also has players at different positions to help with that process.
“[G]uys like [center] Tyler Linderbaum [can say] if a young quarterback’s cadence is just a little bit off, that’s great insight for him,” Janocko said.
There’s a lot of time between now and Week 1, let alone the rest of the season. But Mendoza Mendoza appears to have brought plenty to the table since the Raiders made his selection official just over a month ago.
