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By Matthew Davis
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Before quarterback Kirk Cousins signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday, he indirectly warned likely No. 1 pick and quarterback Fernando Mendoza of his vision.
Cousins inked a five-year, $172 million contract with the Raiders amid his mostly successful 14-year career. Mendoza, a Heisman Trophy winner and national champion with Indiana, has big expectations for his coming NFL career, but Cousins touched on why a prized rookie quarterback should sit first when he visited with Kevin Clark of This is Football! podcast.
“Well, I do think that there was a time when Aaron Rodgers got drafted and sat for three years. Carson Palmer got drafted and sat for a year. There have been teams that have said that was the plan, and then Week 4, 5, 6, the guys playing,” Cousins said.
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That has yielded more success than the long lineage of high-draft picks who faltered with their first team over the years. It looks likely that the Raiders will start Cousins right away and give Mendoza a chance to develop in the background. Cousins made mention of a high-pick quarterback, who didn’t work out with his first team but later followed him in one of his prior stops, the Minnesota Vikings.
“But the young guys you wanna give as much continuity as you can and just hasn’t been the environment many guys, including a Sam Darnold, have been given,” Cousins said, “when you’re asking a talented player to kind of rewire his brain and do something different, he’s not gonna be the same talented player because he’s gonna be a step slower and he’s gonna be learning and thinking again.”
Darnold was one of several high picks at quarterback for the New York Jets over the years, who didn’t make things work in Gotham. Ultimately, Darnold found success elsewhere — not a model the Raiders want to see with Mendoza if he goes No. 1 on April 23.
“You wanna take that thinking out of it,” Cousins explained. “The more you can be a Tom Brady or a Drew Brees, who’s been in the same system for 15 years, the better quarterback play you’re gonna get.”
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