Raiders rookie QB Fernando Mendoza will make first career start vs. Seahawks after Kirk Cousins trade: 'He's prepared'

Fernando Mendoza, a reigning college national champion, will face the defending Super Bowl champions in his first career NFL start.

Mendoza, who led Indiana on a storybook run to College Football Playoff glory, will get the nod for the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium against the Seattle Seahawks, general manager John Spytek and head coach Klint Kubiak confirmed Tuesday .

Mendoza, the No. 1 overall draft pick in April, is up for a 4-5 Raiders team that traded veteran Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 third-round pick hours before Tuesday's trade deadline. That deal effectively marked the beginning of the Mendoza era in Vegas.

"This is something that he's worked very hard for since the moment he walked into this building," said Spytek, who emphasized in a news conference alongside Kubiak that the Cousins trade doesn't mean the Raiders are punting on the season or looking ahead to 2027.

Spytek added, regarding Mendoza: "He passed every test. I want to stop short of saying he's earned it, but he put us in a position where we had to make a really hard decision today with his growth as a person, as a teammate, as a leader, as a quarterback."

After learning under the 38-year-old Cousins before and during the season, the 23-year-old Mendoza is set for quite the three-game test in advance of the Raiders' Week 13 bye.

Not only will he have to battle the Seahawks' vaunted defense, but he'll have to go up against the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns the subsequent two weeks. Entering Week 10, all three of those teams rank inside the top 13 in fewest points per game allowed this season. The Broncos and Browns are tied with a handful of teams for fourth in the NFL with 26 sacks.

Mendoza has attempted only eight regular-season passes. All of those came in relief of Cousins down the stretch of a 45-17 road loss to the New England Patriots . That was part of a four-game Raiders skid that followed their head-turning 3-0 start .

In his first year at the helm, Kubiak named Cousins the team's Week 1 starter after evaluating both him and Mendoza in the preseason. He then stuck with Cousins under center despite the October losing streak .

Cousins was open throughout his stay in Las Vegas that he was well aware of the circumstances of his role and that his time as Raiders QB1 was limited. He stressed that he wanted to put the team in the best position to win games, even if that meant at some point handing the baton to Mendoza.

But Cousins played so well that he kept his job leading up to the deadline. In fact, an ESPN report surfaced Sunday morning, detailing how, at the time, the Raiders weren't interested in dealing him .

Spytek, Kubiak met with Cousins before making trade

Spytek explained Tuesday that the trade really came together with the Vikings that morning.

"I never made one call on Kirk Cousins," Spytek said, when asked if the Raiders were shopping Cousins. "I got a few phone calls, but one real one this morning."

Both Spytek and Kubiak were effusive about Cousins in the fallout of the trade. Spytek even divulged that, before Las Vegas made the final call on dealing Cousins, he and Kubiak sat with the longtime signal-caller to talk him through the deal.

"We both felt like it was important that he have say in it, too," Spytek said. "Fifteen-year veteran, everything he's given to this organization, he has a family and we kind of presented him with what we had on the table, and we tried to make the best decision. I think we owed him that respect."

Kubiak noted: "It reinforced how extremely unselfish he is and just the way that he spoke to us and the maturity and the awareness of the situation — I think we all left that room on the same page, all with respect for one another."

Cousins turned back the clock while working with Kubiak, posting a 20:8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His 20 TD passes are good for second most in the league and already more than he's had in a season since his 2022 campaign with the Vikings, with whom he played from 2018-2023.

Cousins turned out to be among the best NFL rentals in recent memory. The Raiders paid him a total of $650,000, per ESPN's Field Yates , and his value resulted in a third-round pick and priceless mentorship.

He appeared to forge an endearing friendship with Mendoza, who eagerly absorbed tips and tricks from Cousins.

Kubiak said Tuesday that Cousins' influence "will remain on our team throughout this season."

He added: "And it remains with Fernando."

Kubiak clearly satisfied with patient approach to developing Mendoza

Kubiak was asked directly Tuesday if he feels like it helped Mendoza that he wasn't thrown in from Day 1.

"I do," Kubiak said with a soft smile. "Yes, I do. I think with the right role model, that will accelerate his growth, and we had the right role model."

Las Vegas drafted Mendoza first overall in the aftermath of his prolific 2025 season with the Hoosiers. He won the Heisman Trophy, vaulted himself into the end zone en route to beating Miami in the national title game and finished the season with 48 total touchdowns, including 41 through the air.

His effervescence, often on full display in postgame interviews, made him a unique college football star. He's still that happy-go-lucky QB , at least outside the white lines.

Time will tell how Mendoza's game translates to NFL regular-season play. He completed 6 of 8 passes against the Patriots for 48 yards. In the preseason, he had mixed results, impressing in his debut against the Arizona Cardinals and then throwing a pick-6 versus the Houston Texans and another interception against the San Francisco 49ers.

Mendoza wrapped the preseason with 240 yards on 25-of-45 passing, registering a 55.6% completion rate, one touchdown pass and those two picks.

It's been months since then, however. The Cousins trade speaks to Minnesota's desperation for a quarterback solution, but it also says a lot about the Raiders' trust in Mendoza's development.

"He's prepared, he's practiced extremely well," Kubiak said, "and his work habits also allow us to make this trade because we feel that he's ready to go, and we're excited to have him take the ball for the game here on Sunday."

Kubiak also said: "We knew this day was coming. We didn't know when it was going to be, but he's continued to grow since he's been here."