Fernando Mendoza, a reigning national champion, is poised to face the defending Super Bowl champions in his first career NFL start.
Mendoza, who led Indiana on a storybook run to College Football Playoff glory, is in line to get the nod for the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium against the Seattle Seahawks.
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He’s up for a 4-5 Raiders team that traded veteran Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 third-round pick hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline. That deal effectively marked the beginning of the Mendoza era in Vegas.
After learning under the 38-year-old Cousins before and during the season, the 23-year-old Mendoza is set for quite the three-game test leading up to the Raiders’ Week 13 bye.
Not only will he have to face the Seahawks’ vaunted defense, but he’ll have to go up against the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns the subsequent two weeks. Entering Week 10, all three of those teams rank inside the top 13 in fewest points per game allowed this season. The Broncos and Browns are tied with a handful of teams for fourth in the NFL with 26 sacks.
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Mendoza has attempted only eight regular-season passes so far. All of those came in relief of Cousins down the stretch of a 45-17 road loss to the New England Patriots. That was part of a four-game Raiders skid that followed their head-turning 3-0 start.
First-year head coach Klint Kubiak, who named Cousins the team’s Week 1 starter after evaluating both him and Mendoza in the preseason, stuck with Cousins under center despite the October losing streak.
Cousins was open throughout his stay in Las Vegas that he was well aware of the circumstances of his role, that his time as Raiders QB1 was limited. He stressed that he wanted to put the team in the best position to win games, even if that meant at some point handing the baton to Mendoza.
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But Cousins played so well over the first nine games that he kept his job leading up to the deadline. In fact, an ESPN report surfaced this past Sunday morning, detailing how, at the time, the Raiders weren’t interested in dealing him.
Cousins turned back the clock while working with Kubiak, posting a 20:8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His 20 TD passes are good for second most in the league and signify his first season with at least that many since his 2022 campaign with the Vikings, whom he first played for from 2018-23.
Cousins turned out to be among the best NFL rentals in recent memory. The Raiders paid him a total of $650,000, per ESPN’s Field Yates, and his value resulted in a third-round pick and priceless mentorship.
He appeared to forge an endearing friendship with Mendoza, who eagerly absorbed tips and tricks from Cousins like a sponge.
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Las Vegas drafted Mendoza first overall in the aftermath of his prolific 2025 season with the Hoosiers. He won the Heisman Trophy, vaulted himself into the end zone en route to beating Miami in the national championship and finished with 48 total touchdowns, including 41 through the air.
His effervescence, often on full display in postgame interviews, made him a unique college football star. He’s still that happy-go-lucky QB, at least outside the white lines.
Time will tell how his game translates to NFL regular-season play. He completed six of his eight passes against the Patriots for 48 yards. In the preseason, he had mixed results, impressing in his debut against the Arizona Cardinals and then throwing a pick-6 versus the Houston Texans and another interception against the San Francisco 49ers.
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Mendoza wrapped the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, with 250 yards on 26-of-46 passing, registering a 56.5% completion rate, one touchdown pass and those two picks.
It’s been months since then, however. The Cousins trade speaks to Minnesota’s desperation for a quarterback solution, but it also says a lot about the Raiders’ trust in Mendoza’s development.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
