Fernando Mendoza is unlikely to open the season as the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback after reportedly showing some ‘growing pains’ in practice.
The 22-year-old was drafted first overall by Tom Brady’s Raiders back in April, just months after he inspired the Indiana Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship.
After entering the NFL as the standout quarterback and player in his draft class, there are high hopes for Mendoza to breathe new life into a struggling organization in Las Vegas, which went 3-14 last season.
Yet according to ESPN’s Ryan McFadden, there have been some early difficulties for him in practice so far.
‘He’s had his fair share of growing pains, especially when playing under center, and mastering the footwork that comes with it,’ McFadden wrote on Monday. ‘With veteran Kirk Cousins on the roster, the Raiders don’t feel like they need to rush Mendoza.’
Just weeks before they drafted Mendoza, the Raiders made a shock move to sign the experienced Cousins, who was recently cut by the Atlanta Falcons.
Fernando Mendoza has reportedly been showing some ‘growing pains’ in Raiders practice
Tom Brady and his fellow Las Vegas owners selected Mendoza with the No 1 pick in April
But they do not want to rush their 22-year-old signal caller and are prepared to be patient
New Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak admitted in April that he didn’t want Mendoza to have to start in Week 1 in an ideal situation, hinting they were looking at bringing in a veteran quarterback for him to learn from.
‘You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world,’ Kubiak said. ‘It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes they have to play from day one and it’s our job as coaches to get them ready to go. I think it does help the player if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.’
As a result, the Raiders are prepared to take their time with Mendoza and not rush him into a starting job too soon.
‘The Raiders have been patient with Mendoza’s adjustment to the next level, having him play mostly with the second and third teams during OTAs and minicamp,’ McFadden added. ‘He has impressed many in the building with his work ethic, leadership qualities and ability to quickly find open targets for completions.’
Mendoza is also receiving some priceless advice from a quarterback considered by many as the greatest of all time in Sin City.
Brady, who is gearing up for his second full year as a minority owner of the Raiders, has been helping the former Indiana signal caller navigate the early months of his first NFL offseason.
‘I usually like to keep the talks between Tom and me private. But I do think what he said as a quarterback is you need to be the most everything,’ Mendoza said during an interview with the Raiders’ official YouTube channel. ‘You need to be the most competitive. You need to be the most leader — you have to have the most leadership.
‘You need to be the toughest, mentally and physically. You’ve got to embody all these things and lead by example before getting the respect from your teammates, in order to lead effectively. That really resonated with me.’
