Mahomes sees his own rookie path in Raiders backup Fernando Mendoza

After the Chiefs moved to 4-0 by beating the Raiders 30-27, Patrick Mahomes said Fernando Mendoza can learn behind Kirk Cousins just as he once learned behind Alex Smith.

The Kansas City Chiefs extended their unbeaten start to the 2026 season with a 30-27 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, an AFC West matchup that lifted Kansas City to 4-0. Once the game was decided, quarterback Patrick Mahomes fielded a question from reporters that concerned the opposing sideline as much as his own.

The subject was Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders rookie who once again spent the game on the sideline as a spectator. Las Vegas has continued to start veteran Kirk Cousins at quarterback, leaving the first-year passer in a backup role for now.

Asked after the game what Mendoza could take from learning behind Cousins, Mahomes said the arrangement should serve the rookie well. "It's going to do a lot of great things for him. Kirk is a true pro," Mahomes told reporters. "A quarterback that knows how to run the room, the team, and everything the right way."

Mahomes also praised what Cousins has shown this season. "He's going to do it the right way. We saw that today," he said. "He's coming off an injury too, he had a bad injury late in his career." Mahomes added that Cousins has "started the season off great" while working to "get back to who he was before that."

As for Mendoza, Mahomes framed the bench role as an education the NFL alone can provide. "It'll be great for Fernando to learn and just take in, because you don't know until you're in the NFL," he said. He added that he hopes the waiting period is shorter: "It went really well for me and Alex. Hopefully maybe not that much (for Fernando) unless I'm gone."

The parallel comes from firsthand experience. Like Mendoza, Mahomes entered the league as a heralded prospect, going 10th overall to the Chiefs in the 2017 NFL Draft after three strong seasons at Texas Tech.

Kansas City did not immediately name him the starting quarterback. Alex Smith held the job, and Mahomes played only one game as a rookie. His performance in that lone appearance was strong, as he led the Chiefs to a 27-24 win over the Denver Broncos after Kansas City had already secured the fourth seed in the AFC.

The following season, the Chiefs traded Smith and made Mahomes their starting quarterback going forward. He responded by winning the league MVP award in his first full season with the team.

Given how well the patient approach worked in Kansas City, the Raiders may be attempting a similar strategy with their young quarterback. For now, Mendoza remains where Mahomes once stood: on the sideline, learning behind an established veteran and waiting for his turn to lead the Raiders.