It’s been the worst-kept secret in the NFL; everyone knows the Las Vegas Raiders will select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick. That didn’t stop the team from adding to its quarterback room – on Thursday morning, the team signed free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins to a five-year, $172 million deal that, in reality, is a one-year, fully guaranteed $20 million deal.

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The arrival of Cousins significantly changes a Raiders quarterback room that had only Aidan O’Connell, but, most importantly, it changes the future of Mendoza. Las Vegas now has a real option to start from Day 1, and not force Mendoza to take the reins of the offense immediately in the NFL.

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Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak addressed this topic in his interview at the NFL Annual Meeting on Tuesday morning.

“I think ideally you don’t want him to start from Day 1,” Kubiak said about starting a rookie QB. “You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world. I know, like I said before, it doesn’t always work out that way … I think it does help the player, though, if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show.”

Kubiak wasn’t talking about Mendoza, but was touching on the broader topic of starting a rookie quarterback from Day 1.

While Mendoza is worthy of the No. 1 overall pick, being 6-foot-5 and 236 pounds at the combine, ideal NFL size, he showcased the ability to withstand hits with his frame. He’s started 34 games in college and has had the experience teams want in a college quarterback. He is phenomenal in the red zone, with 27 touchdowns to no interceptions, the most in the FBS. He also possesses the leadership and teammate qualities that any franchise would want.

So why sign Cousins?

First off, Kubiak and Cousins have a history together. Kubiak was with the Vikings as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2021. In those three years, Cousins threw for 12,089 yards, 94 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. The two are comfortable and know what to expect from one another. 

Indiana ran a heavy RPO and shotgun-type offense. Mendoza didn’t take any snaps under center, despite running a pro-style system.

Now let’s take a look at the Kubiak offense from last season: 27.5 percent of Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold’s throws were from play action, which heavily requires a quarterback to be under center.

RPOs are another aspect of the offense, but the Seahawks didn’t run it to the extent Indiana did.

It takes time for a quarterback to learn how to operate from under center. Look at Lions quarterback Jared Goff.

During his time at the University of California, he was primarily a shotgun-type quarterback.

The transition was hard for him, and it showed in his rookie season in 2016 – he started seven games and had a completion percentage of 54.6 percent with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Goff didn’t even start in week 1; he didn’t start until week 11 and still struggled to handle the transition to the NFL. It’s a harder transition than people think. Being in the shotgun, you can see everything.

The biggest thing is the safeties.

When you snap the ball, you never turn your head to them, so it’s easy to see if they rotate post-snap. In an undercenter offense that requires play-action? That all changes because quarterbacks have to turn their heads to the defense, and the entire pre-snap image they had could be entirely different in just a couple of seconds.

That’s why Cousins is with the Raiders. He can help mentor Mendoza and help him become comfortable being under center. Cousins ran play-action 23.6 percent of the time last year with the Atlanta Falcons.

You can see the differences within the Falcons offense when Cousins started compared to Michael Penix Jr.

The offense was primarily in the shotgun and pistol with Penix, but was able to run more under-center looks with Cousins.

Cousins is comfortable with the system Kubiak wants to run, so while Raider fans are eager to see Mendoza take snaps from them this upcoming season, they will have to wait a while until Mendoza is ready to handle the intricacies of an NFL offense. Even with the Cousins signing, it ultimately doesn’t change the worst-kept secret in the NFL.