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We are on a 4 game losing skid, and I think it's time to put KC out to pasture...with that said all this talk of Mendoza getting destroyed is ridiculous...hell KC has somehow come out unscathed after 7 games what makes people think a mobile QB will fare worse...we aren't going anywhere with KC! It's time to get the kid some real game time experience & see what life with Mendoza entails!

Xramfan wrote: Sun Oct 25, 2026 6:18 pm I’ve been neutral on the subject until today. Halftime today would have been a great play. He’s at home with no pressure for the win because already down by 3 scores but too early for the Rams to go prevent. It was perfect.

Some here think he needs to be bubble wrapped but maybe they forget he’s 6’5” 230lbs while Kirk is 6’3” 215lbs. Mendo isn’t a shy wall flower

Really the difference is that close? Cousins looks alot smaller than Mendoza than that in the pocket according to my lying eyes.

We have 3-4 winnable games, counting this one against the Jets. My guess is that we'll be knocked out of contention by game 12 or so. At that point, Mendoza should be put in no matter what's happening with the rest of the offense. If Cousins continues to start once we're out of contention, that'll mean the plan was to never have him start at any point this season.

It's not Mendoza who needs experience on the field, it's the coaching staff that needs to evaluate his potential strengths and weaknesses.

tatalalicious wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 9:27 am Really the difference is that close? Cousins looks alot smaller than Mendoza than that in the pocket according to my lying eyes.

when fernando is next to kirk he makes kirk look like the kid, its like when josh allen went out to meet mathew stafford for the coin toss in ot josh towered over him but the differnce in height aint that much but the body type and thickness was hugely different

I seem to be in the minority here, but I can be flexible.
How about KC starts the Jets game but we bring in Mendo to start the second half, winning or losing. All their halftime adjustments would be for Cousins, might just catch them by surprise

RI RAIDER wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 8:16 am TBH, its not about results (W's and L's). Its more about development and actually seeing what we have. This was always a throw away season. It would be negligent not to give this kid some time. Is it perfect conditions to put this kid in? Hell no which is why we had the #1 pick to begin with. It would be worse not playing this kid this year than playing him (lumps and bruises from growing pains be damned).

At the very least we'll know how he handles things mentally without a run game and a poor defense.

it's a tough one, kirk is playing well above expectations behind a mediocre at best line, mendoza is gonna struggle back there.
on defense we suck ass, the kid will end up with derek carr have like numbers for defeats if we throw him in now.

charlieinblack wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 9:38 am it's a tough one, kirk is playing well above expectations behind a mediocre at best line, mendoza is gonna struggle back there.
on defense we suck ass, the kid will end up with derek carr have like numbers for defeats if we throw him in now.

We cannot wait until the defense is good. That is a poor argument. And all rookie QBs struggle regardless of the situation. And Cousins playing above expectations? We just got our 4th straight loss. What do we lose by trying out Mendoza? He might just be the straw that stirs the drink. But we do not know that unless we drop that straw into the drink.

Attyla wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 9:42 am We cannot wait until the defense is good. That is a poor argument. And all rookie QBs struggle regardless of the situation. And Cousins playing above expectations? We just got our 4th straight loss. What do we lose by trying out Mendoza? He might just be the straw that stirs the drink. But we do not know that unless we drop that straw into the drink.

He might also fold behind a shity OL and then get hurt and forever be lost (CARR).
I'm in agreement here that we all want to see him play but this team is NOT good. The OL is terrible, our RG is horrible and the WR are bad....this is very telling and it shows.
I'm all for waiting and letting him continue to grow and develop at practice. One more year of waiting isn't going to kill us. I think it is time for us to play other combinations of people though and trade off some key pieces to add in draft capital and free up some money to spend on other FA's. I still can't believe we haven't seen Zuhn somewhere...that is the rookie who should be getting some playing time.

Coach dd 11 wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 9:55 am He might also fold behind a shity OL and then get hurt and forever be lost (CARR).
I'm in agreement here that we all want to see him play but this team is NOT good. The OL is terrible, our RG is horrible and the WR are bad....this is very telling and it shows.
I'm all for waiting and letting him continue to grow and develop at practice. One more year of waiting isn't going to kill us. I think it is time for us to play other combinations of people though and trade off some key pieces to add in draft capital and free up some money to spend on other FA's. I still can't believe we haven't seen Zuhn somewhere...that is the rookie who should be getting some playing time.

Haven't seen too many 5 step drops or long developing route concepts. Kirk isn't getting hit much, I think the offense is designed for the QB not getting hit and Mendoza has a reduced risk of getting hurt like Carr.

I do think there is logic in keeping Mendoza on the bench and playing guys like Zuhn and Grant first because OL is a big problem, and we should see if those guys can fix the run game first

Attyla wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 9:42 am We cannot wait until the defense is good. That is a poor argument. And all rookie QBs struggle regardless of the situation. And Cousins playing above expectations? We just got our 4th straight loss. What do we lose by trying out Mendoza? He might just be the straw that stirs the drink. But we do not know that unless we drop that straw into the drink.

You can't blame those losses on Cousins. Yesterday was yet another example of how bad our D is. We desperately needed a stop when the O had gained us some momentum, but then the Rams march right down the field to put it away with a TD.

I agree that we can't wait until everything's perfect though. We weren't the worst team in the league last year for no reason, so if we keep him in bubblewrap after it's clear that we're not playoff bound, it'll be a missed development opportunity for the kid.

Being a great player means overcoming obstacles, whether it's your first year or your tenth.

You have to be a complete and total moron to even think about benching Cousins. He's carrying the offense!! You should never put in a rookie QB as the starter unless you have an excellent run game to support him.

Kirk did not look good yesterday. I'm ready for Mendoza now.
The coaching staff most likely does not agree with that.
I'm guessing we lose 3 of our next 5. So we are 5-7 going into the bye. At best I'm guessing
Coming out of the bye with 3 straight home games and at Cardinals and @ Chiefs sure looks like the time for Mendoza.
I just hope the coaches don't wait until we are mathematically eliminated to make the change.
I said at the beginning of the year that the WORST thing that could happen is Kirk plays good enough to keep us in playoff contention right to the final week and we never see Mendoza because of that.
The notion of not playing Mendoza until we have what people think is a good o-line and good run game and good WRs and good defense is absolutely laughable.

He's not going to magically fix the oline, make Jeanty look like a top draft pick or make the wrs create better separation
If you're wanting him to start so he gets experience, I can go with that. But some are thinking he's going to open up the offense are in for disappointment. He adds elements that Kirk doesn't offer, stronger arm and can use his legs but let's not pretend he Lamar Jackson and running is a big part of his game

If we wait for everything to get fixed like some want before we play Mendoza...
We will have a thread on this board titled. How much do we pay Mendoza for his contract extension AND when does he get his first start?

Raider_Dave wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 10:29 am If we wait for everything to get fixed like some want before we play Mendoza...
We will have a thread on this board titled. How much do we pay Mendoza for his contract extension AND when does he get his first start?

Somehow Mahomes is managing to have a HOF career despite not starting a game until the very last one of his rookie season. I understand fans by nature are not patient but I still don't think it's the time to throw him in unless the plan is to just tank the rest of the season.