PHOENIX (AP) — Fernando Mendoza won’t start right away for the Las Vegas Raiders if coach Klint Kubiak has his way.
The Raiders are expected to select the Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft next month. Mendoza led Indiana to its first national championship and became the overwhelming favorite to go first.
“Ideally, you don’t want him to start from day one,” Kubiak said Tuesday. “You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world. 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.”
Aidan O’Connell is the only other quarterback currently on the Raiders after the team traded Geno Smith and Kenny Pickett. Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo and Russell Wilson are among the veterans who remain unsigned.
Kubiak, who was the offensive coordinator for Super Bowl champion Seattle, replaced Pete Carroll and aims to rebuild a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since the AFC championship game following the 2002 season.
It starts with landing a franchise quarterback.
“He’s a national champion, he’s a winner,” Kubiak said of Mendoza. “He’s quick. He’s intelligent.”
On defense, the Raiders still have five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby after his trade to Baltimore was voided because he failed a physical.
Kubiak said he smiled when general manager John Spytek gave him the news about the nixed deal.
“We got Maxx back. Are you kidding me? That’s great. Our team just got better,” Kubiak said.
Crosby was back at the team facility rehabbing his knee the next day and Kubiak sees him quite often.
“We’re happy to have Maxx back on the team. He’s the best player on our defense,” Kubiak said. “He’s going to be a leader on our team and a guy that we’re counting on to go win a lot of games with him.”
Ravens coach Jesse Minter said the team was excited about adding Crosby and disappointed the deal fell through. Baltimore pivoted quickly and signed 2024 All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.
“So much respect for Maxx,” Minter said. “Tons of respect for him as a player and the Raiders as an organization.”
Geno’s team
Jets coach Aaron Glenn has high expectations for Smith, who struggled badly in one season with the Raiders after reuniting with Carroll.
The 35-year-old Smith led the NFL with 17 interceptions and was 2-13 in Las Vegas last season. He made the Pro Bowl in Seattle in 2022 and 2023 after replacing Wilson.
“I just feel like he’s the guy who’s gonna lead us to the promised land,” Glenn said.
The Jets have the longest active playoff drought in the NFL at 15 seasons.
Deshaun’s comeback
The Browns are giving Deshaun Watson an opportunity to compete for the starting job along with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, hoping he could be the next quarterback to make a dramatic turnaround.
Sam Darnold went from discarded to leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title.
“There are a lot of quarterbacks who — it seems to be kind of the theme in the NFL — either started or did not start well and then take their team to a Super Bowl championship, right?” Browns owner Jimmy Haslam told reporters. “And what a great story that is for Sam Darnold. Deshaun started great, and the year before we signed him, he was rated the second-best quarterback in the NFL. And then the suspension and the injuries and all that piled up. Can he come back from that? He certainly had the ability at one point in time, and we’re cautiously optimistic. But we’ll see.”
Watson is entering the final season of a $230 million, five-year fully guaranteed contract that has been a disaster for the organization. He’s started just 19 games, going 9-10. Watson hasn’t played since 2024 since twice rupturing his right Achilles tendon.
New Browns coach Todd Monken said he doesn’t plan to divide reps in practice evenly but it’ll change daily based on performance. That means Sanders, who finished last season as the starter, could open with the most. Monken said Sanders has been in the building quite often throughout the offseason.
Team USA flag football
Count Broncos coach Sean Payton among those who doesn’t believe NFL players are needed on Team USA men’s flag football roster.
“I’ll be surprised if there’s one NFL player on that roster,” Payton said.
He coached one of the two teams that went 0-3 in a round-robin tournament against the men’s national team on March 21.
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