- Coach Klint Kubiak held Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby out of all team periods Saturday after Friday’s fight.
- Both went through stretching and individual drills and are due back at practice Monday.
- Fernando Mendoza ran the starting offense for the first time in camp and threw two red-zone touchdowns.
- Cousins remains the starting quarterback, and Kubiak declined to discuss the fight further.
LAS VEGAS – The Las Vegas Raiders held quarterback Kirk Cousins and defensive end Maxx Crosby out of every team period at Saturday’s practice as discipline for a fight between the two a day earlier. The move handed No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza his first snaps with the starting offense in training camp.
Kubiak Held Both Leaders Out Of Team Periods
Cousins and Crosby went through the stretch period and individual drills Saturday, then stood down for the entirety of team work. Kubiak framed it as a standards call rather than a punishment aimed at either player.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business, and we violated that yesterday,” Kubiak said in the team’s account of Saturday’s practice. “So, held those guys out. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
The Raiders were off Sunday. Kubiak said both players will practice Monday, which makes the discipline a one-session matter.
The Fight Was A Tipped Pass And A Charge
Friday’s scuffle started with a routine defensive play. Crosby tipped a Cousins pass at the line and forced an incompletion, and Cousins, who is 37, charged at the 6-foot-5, 256-pound defensive end before teammates pulled the two apart. Cousins stayed on the field to finish the drive with the first-team offense; Crosby went to the sideline.
Kubiak sounded more relaxed about it in the moment than he did the following day, saying after Friday’s session that “those are two leaders of our team going at it, so that is part of camp.” He drew the line at what the same play would cost in September: “Obviously, if you fight in a game and throw a punch in game, then you’re out of the game. So we’ve got to be smart and treat it like a game.”
Mendoza’s Reps Read As Process, Not A Depth-Chart Move
The rookie’s promotion lasted exactly as long as Cousins’ absence. Mendoza worked with the first team for the first time since camp opened and threw two touchdown passes in the red-zone period, one to tight end Brock Bowers and one to receiver Tre Tucker. He also completed five straight in the two-minute drill. The Raiders’ practice report described a session of ebbs and flows for the rookie, and noted that his pocket presence has improved markedly since the offseason program.
Aidan O’Connell also took on more work, throwing red-zone touchdowns to Deven Thompkins and undrafted rookie E.J. Williams Jr.
None of that came with a change at the top. Kubiak named Cousins his starter to open camp in late July and left Mendoza with the second unit, and nothing Kubiak said Saturday moved that. A quarterback who loses one session of team reps to a standards violation and returns Monday has not lost a job, and a rookie who inherits those reps by default has not won one.
Reading Saturday as a shift in the Raiders’ quarterback room mistakes an availability change for evidence, a distinction that matters on legal NFL betting boards in August. The real signal is smaller: Kubiak enforced a practice standard on the two players he calls leaders of the team, in the same session, and gave up nothing about how the job is being decided.
What Happens Next
Cousins and Crosby return to practice Monday, and Kubiak has not said when he will name a Week 1 starter, a call that shapes how legal sports betting boards price Las Vegas this season. The Raiders open the preseason Thursday against the Arizona Cardinals at Allegiant Stadium, the first live look at how the snaps actually divide. The regular season opens Sept. 13 at home against the Miami Dolphins.
