When the Las Vegas Raiders start practicing Wednesday at Intermountain Health Performance Center, Kirk Cousins will take the reigns as their starting quarterback.
Unquestionably.
“He’s the guy,” coach Klint Kubiak said Tuesday morning at their headquarters. “He’s going to get a ton of reps and he deserves it.”
The Raiders reported for training camp Tuesday and tested their conditioning, per Kubiak, with practices starting Wednesday morning. As expected, Cousins will field the bulk of the reps atop his 15th season with top rookie draft pick Fernando Mendoza and fifth-year passer Aidan O’Connell playing behind him.
Cousins signed a deal with the Raiders that guaranteed him $20 million, handling most of the first-team reps through organized team activities and minicamp. Kubiak said he wants Mendoza and O’Connell to “push him” throughout training camp, fielding questions for 15 minutes.
Here are five other takeaways:
How he’ll measure Mendoza’s growth
Kubiak has a tentative plan in place this week for his quarterbacks and “there’s going to be times when certain guys are with the twos, certain guys with the threes, certain guys with the ones.” That would suggest Mendoza is in line for first-team reps as a backup to Cousins, whose “leadership, veteran presence and the way he played in the spring was excellent.”
As for the former Indiana standout, Kubiak expects adversity and is measuring how he responds moreso than completions and incomplete passes. Said the first-year coach: “It’s not just charting tapes and completion percentage, it’s — we put a lot on his plate this offseason. We expect a lot out of him as these practices start coming. … How does he deal with (adversity)? Does he make the same mistake twice? How quickly can he correct himself? When he does make a mistake, what’s his attitude like, what’s his demeanor like? Those are really important things for quarterbacks.”
Maxx Crosby ready to roll
The five-time Pro Bowl pass rusher reported to camp with the rookies Thursday and is almost seven months removed from his torn left meniscus repair. The plan for Crosby, per Kubiak, is to get his usual share of reps with the ones.
“He’s ready to go. He’s ready to practice,” Kubiak said. “As practice unfolds and we’re watching our plays, it’s always a moving target (for workloads). As of right now, tomorrow is a pretty short work day … so, we’re expecting him to be ready to take all those reps.”
Plan in place for Jermod McCoy
A first-round talent turned fourth-round draft pick amid concerns about surgically repaired right ACL, McCoy is in line to rep at cornerback “early” and “see how he responds,” Kubiak said. McCoy participated in OTAs but didn’t participate in minicamp and could push for playing time at corner opposite Eric Stokes if his health is intact.
“Jermod hasn’t played football in a year and we’re aware of that,” Kubiak said. “But he’s ready to go practice tomorrow and we’re also going to be really smart with him and develop him the right way.”
Competition on offensive line
Kolton Miller is back at left tackle and DJ Glaze is back at right tackle with big-ticket free agent Tyler Linderbaum holding down the center spot. But play in training camp and the preseason will settle who starts at right and left guard — with Jackson Powers-Johnson, Spencer Burford, Caleb Rogers and Trey Zuhn III among the options — and Kubiak is ready for those battles.
“They’ll make the decision for us,” Kubiak said. “We’re going to coach them up and we also know that whoever is starting Week 1, that doesn’t mean that’s the starter in Week 17. So, we’re always developing and getting guys better throughout the entire training camp and throughout the whole season.”
A healthy start
The Raiders returned to their headquarters Tuesday with a clean bill of health, Kubiak said.
“Everyone is going to be practicing tomorrow,” he added.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.
