Raiders' Draft Dilemma: Mendoza or Trade Down?

0:00On April 4th, the Las Vegas Raiders snagged the number one pick in the 2026 NFL draft, and everyone's betting they'll grab Indiana. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner, it's looking like a slam dunk move to rebuild their offense from the ground up. They brought in new head coach Clint Kubiak this off-season and just sealed a deal with veteran quarterback Kurt Cousins who turns 38 before next season. Cousins and Kubiak go way back from their days with the Minnesota Vikings, so he could ease Mendoza into the system as a short-term starter. Fans and insiders are buzzing, but Raiders owner Mark Davis dropped a reminder at the league meetings in Arizona last week. Back in 2007, they took LSU quarterback Jermarcus Russell number one overall, and he turned into one of the league's all-time biggest. Full ups. Now there's real talk about trading down from that top spot, letting Cousins run the show for a year and loading up on picks to chase top. Quarterbacks in the 2027 draft instead. Either way,

1:03this off-season shake-up has the Raiders poise for big changes, and we'll see how it plays out when the draft has settles.