Are the Raiders closer to starting Fernando Mendoza than Klint Kubiak admits?
Klint Kubiak held Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby out of team drills at Saturday’s practice in Henderson, Nevada, one day after the quarterback and the pass rusher had to be separated by teammates during the Raiders’ eighth training camp practice. Both went through stretching and individual periods before standing on the sideline for the entirety of 11-on-11, and Kubiak said each will be back on the field Monday.
Cousins is the starting quarterback and a 15-year veteran, Crosby is a five-time Pro Bowler and the best player on the Raiders defense, and the rest of the roster spent Saturday watching both of them stand still while everyone else worked.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business, and we violated that yesterday, so [we] held those guys out,” Kubiak said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it. We addressed it with the team, and we’re moving on.”
Ian Rapoport, speaking in studio on NFL Network’s Inside Training Camp Live, framed the holdout as a message aimed past the two players serving it. He pointed out that the entire team watched Cousins and Crosby do nothing while everyone else worked, and said a decision like that can carry “wide ranging ramifications” in a building where the leaders are held to the same standard as everyone else.
From Inside Training Live (in-studio): The #Raiders sent a message to their team by holding Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby out of practice yesterday. pic.twitter.com/ZLJ2abOCZr
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 9, 2026
With Cousins out of team periods, Fernando Mendoza ran the first-team offense for the first time in camp, throwing to Brock Bowers and Tre Tucker against the Raiders’ starting defense. He missed on a few early throws and settled in as the session went on.
Why the Raiders needed that look at Fernando Mendoza
Kubiak has been deliberate about the pace of Mendoza’s development since the draft, and until Saturday the rookie had not taken a snap with the starting offense in camp. The disciplinary call handed the staff a full day of first-team tape on him without the team having to announce anything about its quarterback plan.
Mendoza signed a four-year, fully guaranteed $57.27 million rookie contract as the No. 1 overall pick out of Indiana, where he won the Heisman Trophy and a national title. Quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan described Saturday as a step rather than a finished product, pointing to the rookie handling a faster operation and more noise around him with the starters.
Cousins opened camp as the starter and has kept the job, and Kubiak has not announced how he will use his quarterbacks when Las Vegas hosts Arizona in the preseason opener on Aug. 13 at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders went 3-14 last season under Pete Carroll and used the top pick that came with it on Mendoza, so the timeline only moves one way.
Cousins and Crosby are due back on the field Monday and Mendoza will return to the second-team huddle, but the Raiders now have a day of first-team tape on their rookie that was never on the practice script.
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Let’s wait and see the culture in the locker room is a big concern