Fernando Mendoza Camp Update — August 23: First Start, First Pick-Six
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Mendoza's first NFL start opened with an eighty-yard pick-six and ended at halftime down 20-3, eight of fifteen for eighty-six yards behind a backup line. Klint Kubiak found real credits on the third-down tape — and then called Week 1 Kirk Cousins' job to lose.
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Fernando Mendoza started an NFL game for the first time on Thursday in Houston, and the first possession of his career ended with Texans linebacker Wade Woodaz jumping a checkdown meant for running back Mike Washington Jr. and returning it 80 yards for a touchdown. The half ended 20-3 against, and Mendoza's line read eight of 15 for 86 yards with one sack and five hits taken behind a backup offensive line, per Sam Gordon at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Levi Edwards at Raiders.com. He owned the throw without prompting — "Probably should've checked it down to the flat" — and kept the rest in proportion: "There's a lot more learning to do... the margins are so small," per Gordon.
The tape review found genuine credits. "I was pleased with watching the tape. I really like what he did on third down," Klint Kubiak said, pointing to downfield third-down conversions to Jalen Nailor and Malik Benson, per Edwards. His prescription was one word — "Reps" — followed by a description of quarterbacks coach Sullivan "spending early mornings and long nights with Fernando," and his character read held: "The response is what we've come to expect from him," per Gordon. The week's practice evidence ran the same mixed shape: at Tuesday's joint practice, where Kirk Cousins took the majority of the first-team snaps, Mendoza mixed throws to Brock Bowers and Deven Thompkins with a red-zone interception to Jalen Pitre, per Edwards. The Raiders won the game 22-20 on Aidan O'Connell's second-half comeback against Houston's reserves, which belongs to O'Connell's file, not Mendoza's.
Then came Friday's punctuation: Kubiak said the Week 1 job is Cousins' "to lose," per Gordon — a step back down from the previous week, when he had said all three quarterbacks deserved first-team reps. The June read on the first overall pick was that the question was never talent but a door, and the tell was how Kubiak sequences the quarterbacks. This week the sequencing gave the rookie the start, the film gave the coach a reason for patience, and the door swung back toward the veteran.
What to watch: whether three quarterbacks survive Sunday's cutdown to 53, and how the first-team reps split in the finale week now that Kubiak has restated Cousins' hold. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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