The Las Vegas Raiders definitely have some different options and arrangements when it comes to depth.
The Las Vegas Raiders are starting a roster rebuild, so there’s plenty of competition as training camp approaches. Part of what comes with this sort of thing is building depth, Bill Barnwell of ESPN offered an unconventional take on roster depth as he compiled an “All-Backup” team that included two prominent Raiders players.
One was quarterback Fernando Mendoza, while the other was defensive end Malcolm Koonce. Mendoza’s selection was fairly obvious, as Barnwell noted, especially given Mendoza’s unique situation. He’s a quarterback-in-waiting after being the top overall pick in the draft, so the idea of whether he represents genuine depth is debatable at best.
If you want to play Barnwell’s game and consider Mendoza depth, he does offer poise and reliability compared to most other draft picks coming into this kind of situation. He showed that last season at Indiana, and it’s one of the reasons the Raiders like him so much.
The other is that he’s on board with what coach Klint Kubiak is trying to do--so far, anyway. Juggling a veteran and a rookie can be tough business in any situation, but doing it at quarterback is especially dicey. Mendoza has bought into the whole learning curve concept, so it’s been a copacetic situation to date.
The question now is whether that will last. The Raiders were able to pull off this delicate arrangement through OTAs and minicamp, but now the hard part starts. Las Vegas will actually be on the field in about a week, at which point some new version of reality will set in.
As for Koonce, Barnwell referred to him as a player whose career was derailed by injury. He had an eight-sack season playing opposite Maxx Crosby, but he missed all of 2024 due to an ACL tear. He came back a year ago and picked up 4.5 sacks as a situational player, and now he’s slated to play behind Crosby, who isn’t supposed to be with the Raiders, and new linebacker Kwity Paye.
It’s a strange situation to say the least, and no one knows quite how it’s going to shake out. Crosby could still be traded toward the end of training camp, and he could also be moved at the trade deadline if the Raiders are really bad and they decide they need another draft to put the roster together. Meanwhile Koonce will wait in the wings, presumably, but that’s a tenuous assumption that should also come with a fair dose of skepticism.
