00:00The Las Vegas Raiders team total set at seven and a half.
00:04Questions about this roster are everywhere.
00:07You have a new head coach and a new quarterback.
00:11If you are a Raider fan, you are hoping that the team has hit and struck gold with Frendano Mendoza.
00:22I would have traded the pick.
00:24I've been on record saying I wouldn't have taken him, but the Raiders took him.
00:27They also bring in a new head coach for their quarterback in Clint Kubiak.
00:33The question is going to be, when does Mendoza start?
00:37Kirk Cousins being on this roster, if I am the Raiders, I'm not playing Mendoza unless we see an injury
00:48to Kirk Cousins in 2026-27.
00:52I'm not playing Mendoza this year.
00:56I'm going to let the kid learn.
00:58I'm going to work on him all year long.
01:00I'm going to get him to be ready in case you have an injury.
01:03But if Kirk Cousins does not get hurt, Mendoza plays zero snaps in 2027-26-27.
01:12You have a fully competent Kirk Cousins and you have a roster that could be competitive.
01:17Not with the rookie quarterback, but with a veteran quarterback.
01:22You have a running game that's worthwhile.
01:25The Raiders have invested heavily on their offensive line.
01:28They have changed the identity of this team.
01:31And I think when you have a competent quarterback with a quarterback coach like Clint Kubiak, who has had success
01:39with Kirk Cousins under center, you can do both.
01:43You can play for the now and you can play for the future.
01:48Mendoza is your future.
01:49Kirk Cousins is your right now.
01:52And you can go and win nine, ten games if things break right.
01:57The first break was getting Mad Max back.
02:01And now you've got a defensive line and a defensive pass rusher in Max Crosby who can create all sorts
02:08of problems for opposing quarterbacks.
02:11You're in an incredibly difficult division and, frankly, your schedule is awful.
02:16They open with Miami.
02:17That's a win.
02:18Then they're on the road to the Chargers and the Saints.
02:21That's a two-in-one start potential.
02:24The Raiders always play the Chargers difficult.
02:27It's not crazy that the Raiders could open up 3-0 on the year.
02:32But then it gets to be absolutely brutal.
02:35Chiefs, Patriots, Bills, Rams.
02:38Good luck.
02:39I mean, that is a wipeout.
02:400-4 run right there for the Raiders.
02:43You could open up 3-0 and then lose the next four.
02:46And now you're 3-4 going to New York across the country to face the Jets.
02:52And then you're back home against San Francisco.
02:54Sorry, you're on the road to San Francisco on the West Coast.
02:57You could lose both those games easy.
02:59Then you're home against Seattle, which is going to be brutal.
03:02That's the Clint Kubiak revenge game against his former team.
03:06Good luck with that.
03:07The Seahawks most likely win that game.
03:09Then you're at Denver and at Cleveland.
03:12Yikes.
03:13It's Cleveland outdoors in the later part of the year.
03:16That's always a tough test for the Raiders.
03:19And then you're home for the Chargers in Denver and Tennessee.
03:23Three games at home.
03:25All three of those games could be losses depending on how the Titans are playing.
03:30If Cam Ward has taken a big step forward, that could be really problematic.
03:34If the defense for Robert Sala is playing really well for the Titans and you end the year at Arizona
03:40and at Kansas City, you should beat Arizona clearly.
03:43But then you're playing the Chiefs for the last game of the regular season and the Chiefs might need that
03:49game to get in.
03:50They might need that game for the division.
03:52That's a really hard schedule.
03:54I think you can play for the now while you're also developing Mendoza for the future.
04:00Kirk Cousins is a competent quarterback.
04:03I know I'm kind of higher on this, but like I just think it is going to be.
04:10These two guys are two peas in a pod.
04:14Addison saying, give me all the behind the scenes content for Mendoza and Cousins.
04:18I mean, it's going to be funny.
04:22I mean, these two guys are like Wonder Bread and white in white milk, like neither one of these guys.
04:28Mendoza tried to change his image and it felt funny after he got drafted by the Raiders.
04:35He started dropping a bunch of F-bombs at all these different Raider events that he went to.
04:40Like he'd get on the microphone and he like tried to be Tom Brady, but Brady never swore at those
04:46events.
04:46Brady always swore on the field.
04:48So Mendoza hasn't played yet.
04:50So Mendoza is coming up and like dropping these F-bombs and everyone's like, bro, like we don't need that,
04:56man.
04:56Like, come on.
04:56There's kids in the audience, like stop, you know?
05:00So like, I think he's been coached up to stop it with the curse words.
05:04But Kirk Cousins is Kirkland Kirk.
05:07Like, that's what he is.
05:08He's just, you know, he's a multi-multi-millionaire who shops at Costco.
05:13Like, that's just what this guy is.
05:16It's the perfect mentor, big brother, little brother situation, stepbrothers in real life, the movie come to life type of
05:25situation.
05:26And I think for a lot of people who are watching this Raiders team, they're really interested in that relationship
05:32as to how it's going to go because Kirk Cousins hasn't wanted to be the big brother.
05:37He hasn't wanted to have that role.
05:38He didn't want that role in Atlanta.
05:40That's why he's in Vegas, right?
05:42He was supposed to be that to Michael Penix and he really wasn't interested.
05:46He was just kind of like, eh, you know, maybe I'm here for, you know, that kid, but I'm really
05:51here to play.
05:52I want to win.
05:54And the Falcons were like, yeah, no, we're good.
05:58So now he's with the Raiders.
05:59So now he's with the Raiders.
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