Raiders coach Klint Kubiak: Kirk Cousins is 'the starting quarterback' over No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza

Fernando Mendoza was the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL Draft. But he’ll have to earn a starting job with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Head coach Klint Kubiak confirmed to reporters Tuesday that veteran Kirk Cousins will start training camp as the Raiders’ starting quarterback. Kubiak made his comments at a news conference a day before the start of training camp.

“When we go out to practice tomorrow, Kirk Cousins the starting quarterback. He’s the guy,” Kubiak said. “He’s gonna get a ton of reps. He deserves it. He’s played really good football.

“I want Fernando and I want Aidan [O'Connell] to push him.”

Kubiak added that “it’s important for me to be fair to the players and put the best player out there.”

Mendoza is obviously the Raiders’ planned quarterback of the future. But the plan, for now, is not to rush him.

The Raiders signed Cousins to a two-year contract prior to April’s NFL Draft to add a veteran presence in the room and presumably allow them to ease Mendoza into his role. How long Cousins will remain the Raiders’ starter is unclear.

How long will Mendoza sit?

How Mendoza develops and is placed into the starting position will be the most important challenge for Kubiak as a rookie head coach. There’s precedence for letting first-round rookie quarterbacks learn from the bench, and there’s no guarantee that Mendoza will start a game this season.

Patrick Mahomes, Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers were all first-round picks who didn’t take over their team’s starting position until after their rookie seasons. It’s hard to argue with the results of their development.

Of course, those situations offered their respective teams a luxury that the Raiders don’t have. Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre and Love sat behind Rodgers. It’s easier to ease a young quarterback into the job when a Hall of Famer is still taking snaps.

And while Alex Smith isn’t a Hall of Famer, he was en route to his second consecutive Pro Bowl with the Chiefs while Mahomes developed from the bench as a rookie in 2017.

Nobody’s mistaking Cousins for a Hall of Famer or even a Pro Bowl level talent in his 15th NFL season. This is a guy who lost his starting job with the Falcons 14 games into a four-year, $180 million contract. And that was two seasons ago.

Success on the field with a veteran winner at quarterback makes it a lot easier to ease a rookie in. If Cousins comes out of camp with the job, and the losses start to pile up, pressure will mount on Kubiak to put Mendoza in.

The key for Kubiak will be to drown out the noise as much as possible. Mendoza’s development should be his guide in determining his path — not Cousins’ performance on the field.

Putting Mendoza on an NFL field before he’s ready is the worst mistake that Kubiak could make.