{"id":809831,"date":"2026-08-11T07:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809831\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T07:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:52:10","slug":"fernando-mendoza-is-listed-as-qb2-in-first-raiders-depth-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809831\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza is listed as QB2 in first Raiders&#8217; depth chart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As expected, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft has landed at No. 2 on the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raiders.com\/news\/raiders-first-unofficial-depth-chart-of-2026-season-training-camp-preseason-vs-arizona-cardinals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">first 2026 Raiders depth chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The preliminary configuration of players has been released. Fernando Mendoza is listed as the backup to Kirk Cousins at the quarterback position.<\/p>\n<p>The third quarterback is Aidan O\u2019Connell, who has 17 starts in three seasons with the team. Jacob Clark, an undrafted rookie from Missouri State, is listed as the fourth-string quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>The Raiders seem to be intent on starting the season with Cousins under center, and to not having a true competition between Cousins and Mendoza. It\u2019s an approach that cuts against the modern approach of getting highly-drafted quarterbacks ready and putting them on the field, if only to give them the reps that will help the game slow down for them sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n<p>The initial Las Vegas depth chart contains no real surprises. If Mendoza isn\u2019t playing by the end of the 2026 season, that will be a major surprise.<\/p>\n<p>The overriding question is whether the Raiders have enough talent to compete in a top-heavy AFC West. On paper, they don\u2019t. It will be up to them to defy that once the real games begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As expected, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft has landed at No. 2 on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-809831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}