Raiders HC Klint Kubiak’s 2-word Fernando Mendoza truth bomb will fire up fans

The Las Vegas Raiders were the worst team in the NFL a season ago, but there is a completely different feel about them heading into 2026. Klint Kubiak is bringing fresh ideas in on offense, and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza has injected some life into the fanbase.

Mendoza finally got to don the Silver and Black for the first time this week at OTAs as he battles with Kirk Cousins for the starting quarterback job. While it’s difficult to gauge how the Heisman Trophy winner is adjusting to NFL life outside of a live game scenario, Klint Kubiak seems to think that he is making the transition smoothly.

“As advertised,” Kubiak said when asked about Mendoza, via Raiders beat reporter Paul Gutierrez.

Mendoza is certainly taking a lot in during OTAs, as Kubiak’s offense is a whole lot different from the one that he ran at Indiana. With the Hoosiers, Mendoza was primarily in the shotgun and ran a ton of RPOs with Indiana, requiring him to read one defender and make a choice. While RPOs are a small part of Kubiak’s offense, he will be asked to do a lot more than just that.

Last season, Kubiak helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl with an offense that included a ton of under center and play-action concepts. Sam Darnold used that play-action to generate explosive plays throwing the ball down the field and over the middle, and Mendoza will have to get more comfortable with that in year one.

The good news is that the Indiana product has shown the ability to pick things up quickly and adapt to new schemes during his career. His historic 2025 campaign with the Hoosiers was his first since transferring to Bloomington from Cal, and he didn’t waste any time getting acclimated on his way to a national title.

The Raiders are hoping that he transitions just as fast to the NFL, even if he doesn’t start over Cousins in Week 1. Regardless, if Kubiak’s words are any indication, it looks like Las Vegas has a true franchise quarterback after all.

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