I hope everyone enjoyed Fernando Mendoza’s debut during Thursday night’s preseason game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals, as Raiders football is finally back! Despite the loss, it was good to see a few guys start to separate themselves or close the gap on the depth chart. That also gives us some actual ball to talk about for this week’s mailbag!
Q: Can Fernando win the starting QB spot in the preseason?
A: He definitely can!
I’ve been saying for a while now that I think this competition
is less about Mendoza versus Kirk Cousins and more centered around the rookie being ready to get thrown into the action, meaning Cousins’ performance is kind of irrelevant.
The reports are that the veteran has been the better and more consistent quarterback so far in training camp, and he was solid against the Cardinals, going five-for-six with 50 yards and a touchdown on his only drive of the game. However, Mendoza played pretty well too, and we know that the plan is for him to take over at some point.
After the game Friday morning, Klint Kubiak said that Mendoza is likely going to get reps with the starting offense moving forward. So, if he keeps playing well over the next couple of weeks, he could easily be the Week 1 starter. I still think Cousins is the favorite, but the door is certainly open for the No. 1 pick to win the job during the preseason.
Q: I keep hearing about Jackson Powers-Johnson and Caleb Rogers competing for the starting right guard spot. I’m happy one of those high draft picks is in line to start, but does Spencer Burford have the left guard position completely locked up? Shouldn’t there be a three-man (or four if you add Trey Zuhn III) battle for both Guard positions? I’d love to see JPJ and Rogers starting, based on their draft positions.
A: It certainly seems that way. Based on the training camp reports, Burford has taken all of the first-string left guard reps while Powers-Johnson and Rogers have been rotating on the right side. Also, for what it’s worth, Burford only played in the first series while Powers-Johnson got extra reps with the second-team offense and continued to split time with Rogers.
I agree with you that it should be a three-man competition, and the ideal situation is that JPJ and Rogers are starting while Burford is a veteran backup. However, Kubiak and Co. don’t seem to agree with us, barring a shake-up during next week’s practices.
As far as Zuhn goes, it looks like he’s in the mix more at right tackle. He’s been getting more reps there during practice and exclusively lined up at that spot during the first preseason game.
A: I’m not at training camp, so I don’t have any insights other than what’s been reported. It sounds like the coaching staff is training him to be as versatile as possible while simultaneously trying to determine what his best position is in the NFL. Zuhn has been spotted lining up at center, guard and tackle during camp. That sets up a situation where the team, at the least, has a competent backup who can fill in if any of the starters.
That being said, he did play well at right tackle against the Cardinals, and personally, I think he has a better shot at sticking on the edge than playing inside. I worry about Zuhn’s lack of play strength at guard, and his athleticism is more beneficial at tackle since there’s more space involved in playing the latter position. And yes, generally speaking, a tackle is more valuable than a guard.
A: I touched on Powers-Johnson being a trade candidate if he doesn’t win a starting job a couple of times this offseason (here and here), so that’s definitely on the table in my eyes. However, I think Rogers or even Meredith getting traded is less likely. Depth is too important at a position like offensive line, especially after last year’s debacle and the fact that the Raiders are going to have a young quarterback take over at some point.
JPJ is just in a little different circumstance since he’s entering year three, which is viewed as the “make-or-break” season in the NFL. Plus, the current regime isn’t the one that drafted him, and he was a starter for the last two coaching staffs. Taking all of that into consideration, it wouldn’t surprise me if Powers-Johnson asks for a trade if he gets relegated to backup duties under Kubiak. Whereas Rogers was drafted by John Spytek and has one more year on his rookie contract than JPJ does, giving the current coaching staff more time to develop Rogers into a starter.
Richardson, or one of the other corners on the roster bubble, is also a trade candidate. However, he’s going to have to have a strong showing during the next two preseason games after barely playing last year and missing Thursday’s contest for the birth of his child (congrats!) to have any significant trade value.
There are a lot of variables at play, but if Richardson, Darien Porter, Hezekiah Masses and Jermod McCoy are all ascending during camp, the math may not work out to keep all of them. Even if all are on the 53-man roster, only two outside cornerbacks are on the field at the same time, and Eric Stokes has one of those spots locked down. So, it’d make sense to flip one of the young corners for either a player who can fill another need or a draft pick.
A: It depends on the defense a team is running, and there can be some crossover between the two positions where a free safety can be in slot coverage at times. It seems like Kubiak wants Rob Leonard to run a variation of Mike Macdonald’s defense, which leans pretty heavily on a good nickelback. Think about how important Nick Emmanwori was to the Seahawks’ Super Bowl run, and he was lined up over the slot on 449 out of 944 total snaps last season, per Pro Football Focus.
Granted, Emmanwori is the “big nickel” or strong safety type and barely lined up on the backend of Seattle’s defense. But the Seahawks’ best corner, Devon Witherspoon, had the second-most slot coverage snaps on the team last year to emphasize how important that role is in Macdonald’s defense. And to the point above about the crossover, third-most among the team’s defensive backs was free safety Coby Bryant.
So, a good slot corner/nickelback carries more value in that system. But if we’re following the money, Alontae Taylor is the highest-paid pure nickel corner at about $19.3 million per year, per Over The Cap. That would barely crack the top five for safeties, with Derwin James ($25.2 million), Kyle Hamilton ($25.1 million), Kerby Joseph ($21.25 million), Antoine Winfield Jr. ($21 million) and Budda Baker ($18 million) leading the position.
Granted, James is in slot coverage a lot, and Hamilton lines up all over the field. Those two are kind of in a class of their own, where they’re very unique in that they can do just about everything at a high level and are almost positionless. The other three safeties above are primarily backend defenders who can offer some value covering the slot, though. In other words, the NFL in general seems to value free safety more.
A: Pro-Football-History.com had a good article on the historical success of first-time head coaches, which typically goes hand-in-hand with hiring new coordinators. One of PFH’s key findings was that rookie coaches improve team win totals by an average of two games and have a .447 winning percentage. Granted, one of those numbers would have to give with Kubiak and the Raiders this season because going 5-12 is a .294 winning percentage. Even a 6-11 finish (.353) falls well short of the .447 figure.
A: You hit the nail on the head, in my opinion. I think six wins is a reasonable expectation (the betting line is 5.5, FWIW) and anything more than that is wishful thinking. Ultimately, with a young team that’s in year one of a rebuild, success isn’t or shouldn’t be determined by the record at the end of the season. It’s about growing as a group and getting better week after week.
I can’t stress enough that the best way to look at the upcoming season is to think of it similarly to the 2014 Raiders. That team was super young and sucked to begin the campaign, starting 0-10. However, Derek Carr, Khalil Mack and the rest of the young core started to gel together and looked like a much more competent team to go 3-3 down the final stretch.
From ownership to the fans and everyone in between, that’s the type of growth that should be expected of the 2026 Raiders’ squad. It might be ugly at the beginning, but improving as the games go by should be the standard.
A: After watching Thursday night’s game, I think the defense finishing in the Top 15 overall is going to be a big stretch. If we’re being realistic, not being a bottom quarter or third unit in the league would be a good goal. That means either the 23rd- or 21st-ranked defense is the floor. After having 16 turnovers last year (eight interceptions and eight fumble recoveries), 20 sounds like a reasonable goal for this season.
More importantly, this ties into the last question about success: you want to see the new guys like Treydan Stukes, Quay Walker, Nakobe Dean, etc., and other young players like Darien Porter on the field and making plays. This season is all about developing a young core that’s going to grow together and set the foundation for the organization moving forward.
A: I haven’t seen any reports that have mentioned Roberts, and he didn’t get much playing time on Thursday night—only 14 offensive snaps. He did have two targets and caught one of them for a 12-yard gain, but he also had a drop. Right now, Roberts is looking like a practice-squad guy at best this season.
He’s listed as a fourth-stringer on the unofficial depth chart, behind Shedrick Jackson and Deven Thompkins, who are also competing for a roster spot. It wouldn’t surprise me if fellow UDFA E.J. Williams Jr. is also ahead of Roberts, meaning the former Cougar has an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.
