{"id":850938,"date":"2026-04-03T06:58:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850938\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T06:58:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:58:21","slug":"klint-kubiak-in-favor-of-bridge-qb-as-raiders-room-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850938\/","title":{"rendered":"Klint Kubiak in favor of bridge QB as Raiders\u2019 room shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 2, 2026, 5:55 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"http:\/\/Raiderswire.usatoday.com\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> coach Klint Kubiak is fond of having bridge quarterbacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">No one sentiment is more important for the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/las-vegas-raiders\/341\" data-autotag=\"ce712068-67db-47b5-b6da-5d6ec8fefe0f\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Raiders<\/a> this offseason than the stance that Kubiak took at the annual league meeting this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">According to ESPN\u2019s Ryan McFadden, Kubiak wants a rookie quarterback to learn from a veteran starter right out of the gates in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Fernando Mendoza is the incoming rookie quarterback that has everything save a handshake with commissioner Roger Goodell as the No. 1 overall pick on draft day spelling his future as the Raiders\u2019 next franchise quarterback.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Then Kirk Cousins happened. The Raiders struck a deal with Cousins in free agency on Thursday. Instead of being a forgone conclusion to be the incumbent backup quarterback to Mendoza in 2026, Kubiak\u2019s attestation at the league meeting sets the stage for a potential position battle to unfold in Las Vegas between <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/indiana-hoosiers\/3433\/\" data-autotag=\"feda050d-1f3b-436b-8303-d18427f51966\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Indiana<\/a>\u2019s Heisman Trophy winner as well as the veteran QB prior to the start of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Though Kubiak is more inclined to take the traditional route with his quarterback room, Mendoza\u2019s talent, coupled with Cousins floating between being a starter as well as a backup with the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/atlanta-falcons\/323\" data-autotag=\"55e278ca-caf0-429b-8b4a-caeb78bff5ff\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a> from 2024-25, makes Raiders\u2019 future starting job for next season less clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 2, 2026, 5:55 p.m. PT Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak is fond of having bridge quarterbacks.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[95878,7,1744,393,2455,2454,6,525,15978,97498,95882,96609,95930,95892,98165,98164,97157,95885,95896,95888,95906,96130,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-850938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-las-vegas","11":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","12":"tag-lasvegas","13":"tag-lasvegasraiders","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-raiders","16":"tag-sstssportsnflraiders","17":"tag-sstsnraiders","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagatlanta-falcons","20":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","21":"tag-tagespn-inc","22":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers","23":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers-football","24":"tag-tagkirk-cousins","25":"tag-taglas-vegas-raiders","26":"tag-tagnational-sports","27":"tag-tagnfl","28":"tag-tagoverall-positive","29":"tag-tagroger-goodell","30":"tag-tagsports-news","31":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116339481274609750","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}