Kirk Cousins is here to stay.
The Las Vegas Raiders appeared to have somewhat of a quarterback controversy on their hands heading into Week 8. In the midst of a four-game losing streak, Vegas could've opted to turn to the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Fernando Mendoza, as the starter going forward.
Mendoza's time will have to wait for now. Head coach Klint Kubiak shut the door and left no doubt about the starting quarterback job
when he met with reporters on Oct. 26."Kirk is our starting quarterback," Kubiak said. "There is no controversy there. He is playing at a very high level and he's gotta continue to do that for us to win."
It was a decision that came not even 24 hours after Kubiak opened the door for some debate about who would line
up under center.
"I think at this point, we’re thinking about everything," Kubiak told reporters, via Vegas Sports Today, after the Raiders lost to the Los Angeles Rams 35-21 on Sunday, Oct. 25. "How to fix our problems, how to fix our issues in the red zone, in the third quarter. Personnel, scheme, we’ve got to talk about all of it."
However, the timing wasn't right to make the switch.
"Eventually, Fernando is going to play football," Kubiak said on Oct. 26. "We have a plan. We don't have a timeline for that."
"Fernando is gonna play at some point. It's not gonna be this week."
The coach wanted leave no doubt about the state of the position in an effort to send a message to the team.
"He's the leader of the team," Kubiak said. "The guy that touches the ball on every play so it's important that the team knows where we're going."
Kubiak noted that it will be his decision when and if that switch is made at quarterback.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Klint Kubiak says Kirk Cousins will remain Raiders' QB1 over Fernando Mendoza
