Fernando Mendoza reminds everyone Kirk Cousins is still alive and well

The way everyone around the Raiders was talking about Kirk Cousins in the past tense Wednesday, leave it to his 22-year-old successor to remind everybody that Cousins got traded to Minnesota. He didn’t, you know, die.

“Well, he’s not gone. He’s not gone forever,” Fernando Mendoza said.

Fair point. Presumably, the phone still works in Minneapolis. And the way Mendoza figures it, he’ll have occasion to use it, maybe as soon as Sunday, after he makes his first NFL start against the Seahawks. There might be a thing or two worth discussing after that one.

Still, there’s a difference between being able to call somebody and knowing he’ll be sitting a few feet away when you get to work in the morning. Mendoza spent the first nine games of his NFL career with that luxury. He wanted to make sure Wednesday that a few people understood what it meant to him.

Starting with Julie, Cooper and Turner Cousins.

“As a family, they’ve done so much for me,” Mendoza said. “They’ve essentially taken me into their household when they were here, and they welcomed me with open arms.”

Consider who was doing the welcoming. Cousins came to Las Vegas to play quarterback. The Raiders used the first pick in the draft on the guy everybody understood would eventually take his job. Nobody would have begrudged Cousins a little professional distance. He could have answered the kid’s questions, wished him well and gone home to his family.

Instead, he made room for Mendoza there, too.

In the quarterback room, Mendoza got to see how Cousins studied film, how he prepared for a start and just how many hours went into making either of those things look routine. There was plenty a veteran could have kept to himself, particularly with his replacement sitting right there taking notes.

“He has shared with no restrictions or no constraints,” Mendoza said.

Come Sunday, Mendoza gets to find out how much of that education he can put to use against Seattle. Come Monday, he’s liable to find something on the film he wishes he could lean over and ask Cousins about. That’s probably when Minnesota will feel a little farther away than it did Wednesday.

“I’m going to miss him, and I really appreciate and am deeply thankful for everything that the Cousins family has offered to me.”

As for when the two quarterbacks might talk again? Give the kid a little time. He’s got a game to play Sunday. And, as he reminded everybody, he’s still got Kirk’s number.

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