The Coach Said The Quiet Part Out Loud, On The Record, Into A Microphone
Klint Kubiak volunteered that a Day 1 starter is not necessarily a Week 17 starter. Fernando Mendoza took second-team reps for the first time. Then the rookie threw a would-be pick six. Folks, all three of those things are true at once.
Filed Friday, July 31, 2026 at 4:10 PM CDT from Outside Tulsa, Oklahoma
Four days ago I sat in this chair and told you the Raiders had drafted a franchise quarterback and immediately hidden him in a closet. I described the rep sheet as a seating chart. Gordy filed a rebuttal calling me a conspiracy theorist and suggesting that not every boring decision is a crime.
Camp has now happened. I would like to walk you through it slowly.
Exhibit A: The Rookie Moved Up
Through OTAs and mandatory minicamp, Fernando Mendoza — and I remind the room that this is the number one overall pick in the 2026 draft — worked mostly with the third team.
On the first day of training camp he ran with the second team. The team's own notebook described him showing poise and precision. Which is a nice way of saying the closet door has been opened approximately eight inches.
Exhibit B: The Head Coach Volunteered This
Klint Kubiak told everyone in advance that Kirk Cousins would take Day 1 with the ones. Fine. Expected. I said as much myself and I was not happy about it.
And then, unprompted, with a functioning microphone in front of him, the man noted that just because someone is the Day 1 starter does not mean they will be the starter in Week 17.
Nobody has ever said that sentence about a quarterback they intended to keep.
Degenerates, that is not a slip. Coaches do not accidentally describe the impermanence of their own depth chart. That is a man building a hallway he intends to walk down in October, in public, so that nobody is surprised when he does.
Exhibit C, Which I Am Obligated To Report
On Friday the rookie telegraphed a hitch route to Phillip Dorsett so thoroughly that cornerback Greedy Vance jumped it for an interception and what would have been a pick six in a game that counted.
I am not going to hide that from you, because a man who only reports the reps that support his position is not an analyst, he is a fan with a website. It was a bad throw. It was the kind of bad throw rookies make in their fourth professional practice, and it is exactly the kind of thing that keeps a coaching staff from doing anything dramatic in August.
Meanwhile Cousins was sharp with the ones the same afternoon, hitting Brock Bowers and Jalen Nailor for real gains. Which brings me to the part you can actually use.
What To Do About It
- Bowers is the play and it is getting louder. I said this on Monday and four practices have not argued with me. Cousins throws early, throws to the middle of the field, and gets it out fast. That is a tight end's dream and it is the safest thing in this offense.
- Mendoza's stash price is about to move. He climbed a full team in four days. In dynasty and superflex the window where you buy the number one overall pick at a depressed price closes the week he takes first-team snaps, and that week is coming.
- Do not draft this backfield or these receivers on vibes. A Cousins offense concentrates targets. Somebody in that room gets useful and nobody outside the building knows who yet. Let your league find out first.
- Write down the Week 17 quote. Not because it guarantees anything, but because when the change happens, the people who act in the week before it are the people who profit from it.
I have been a Raiders fan long enough to know the difference between a plan and a press conference. This week I got a little of both, and one interception to keep me honest.
Chief's Verdict
Nothing changes on Bowers — buy with total confidence. Mendoza moves from a stash to an active buy in superflex before the price catches up. And I would like the record to show that four days after I called it a seating chart, the head coach described the seating as temporary.
Gordy’s Rebuttal
Unsolicited, as always
Chief has taken a rookie moving from the third team to the second team and a coach saying a thing coaches say, and constructed a prophecy. He also, to his credit, printed the interception, which I did not expect. Here is the sober version, neighbors: the number one overall pick is progressing at exactly the speed the number one overall pick usually progresses, the veteran is playing well, and nothing has been decided. He is right about Bowers. He is right that the Mendoza price will move. He is wrong that any of this was a confession, and I would point out that his last three prophecies all involved the Raiders and none of them arrived.
Keep Digging
The Raiders Drafted A Franchise Quarterback And Immediately Hid Him In A Closet
Fernando Mendoza is signed, healthy and on the roster. Kirk Cousins is taking the first-team reps. Veterans report tomorrow and Las Vegas is already telling on itself.
Cleveland Is Holding A Quarterback Competition And I Have Seen This Movie
Deshaun Watson is healthy. Shedeur Sanders got real spring reps. Todd Monken wanted a starter named before camp and did not get one. Friends, that is not a good sign, and I say that as a man who has never had a good sign.
The Hold-In Is The Most Southern Thing The NFL Has Ever Done
They wrote rules to stop holdouts, so agents invented showing up to the building and refusing to go outside. Folks, that is not a labor tactic. That is my uncle at a family reunion.