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By Ernesto Cova
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The Las Vegas Raiders traded Geno Smith to the New York Jets after just one year. The experiment failed, but at least it got them the No. 1 pick.
Now, barring a shocking turn of events, the Raiders will use that pick to land Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. Nevertheless, The Athletic insider Dianna Russini reported that they might still be interested in signing Kirk Cousins:
"Expect the Las Vegas Raiders to show interest in Kirk Cousins as they look for a veteran QB addition to help develop presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza," Russini shared on her X account.
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Of course, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Just a couple of weeks ago, Raiders general manager John Spytek shared his plans for a potential rookie quarterback, and he clearly didn't want him to start right away:
“I think you want to limit the amount of pressure on that guy from the start,” the GM said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Now, if you have a young quarterback, I’m not necessarily in favor of running him out there right away, either, so another quality player that can play the position if you have a young quarterback.”
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Cousins made ten appearances (eight starts) for the Atlanta Falcons last season. Before his release, he completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 1,721 yards, ten touchdowns and five picks.
His prime years are clearly behind him, but he could benefit from playing for an offensive-minded coach like Klint Kubiak. Also, while he may not be much more than a stopgap, there aren't many quarterback-needy teams at the moment.
The Minnesota Vikings or perhaps even the Pittsburgh Steelers might be his other choices, but he's reportedly not the primary option for either team.
Mendoza is the clear-cut QB1 in this somewhat underwhelming draft class, but he doesn't seem to have the same sky-high ceiling as other recent No. 1 picks. Considering that, the Raiders might be doing the right thing by erring on the side of caution and making sure that he's actually ready when he takes the field.
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