Raiders Rookie QB Signs Contract While Giants Monitor Malik Nabers Recovery

News out of the Department of Formalities. Stop overall pick Fernando Mendoza has signed his rookie contract with the Raiders. It's the slotted fully guaranteed four-year 57 million and change with a fifth-year option. 38 million coming up front via signing bonus. It's good work if you can find it, but work to be done for Mendoza to find himself under center. And from all we say hello to CBS NFL writer Tyler Sullivan. T-Sul, the ink is dry and now the real work starts. Outward-facing the Raiders, they're pumping the brakes on putting Mendoza at the top of this depth chart, but internally, what do you believe the expectations are during camp for the prize pick?

Yeah, we're always going to remember the signing bonus squabble of 2026, right? I think now we get to the point here with Fernando Mendoza where we can ask the real questions. All right, when is he going to actually start for the Las Vegas Raiders? That is going to be the big question and this is the first big test, I feel, for Clint Kubiak because all we've heard this offseason is that his philosophy is that he likes to slow play these things with a young quarterback. He believes that the best way for them to get the best footing to start their career in the NFL is to start the season behind an established starter. We've seen them go out and get Kirk Cousins. Seems like he might be the

guy to start the year. And if that goes to plan, well, then Clint Kubiak has kind of told us what he was going to do. If all of a sudden Fernando Mendoza starts lighting up training camp, lighting up his preseason performances later this summer, makes life a little bit more difficult for that mantra for Clint Kubiak, then we're going to see that first real test for the first year head coach. So, I'm curious to see it from a head coaching standpoint, but from a player standpoint, it's an inevitability. We're going to see Fernando Mendoza at some point. It's just a matter of when. And it's also a matter of patience with Kirk Cousins depending his performance level from both his coaching staff, this

front office, and always important, the fan base. Elsewhere, we can pick our headline out of East Rutherford right now. Rousing head coaching speeches. Neighbor's going to avoid the public. list. get there, but I want to talk Ar'vell Reese here for a moment. The G-Men assigned him a backer, not an edge. Anything to read into here, or is this just tag posturing for 5 years down the road? I think it probably is a little bit of posturing, but I think that they are going to use him as a chess piece in this defense. I do think he's going to start the year as an off-ball linebacker, but he's going to wear a lot

of hats in this defense. I don't think it's just going to be, okay, Ar'vell Reese is now an off-ball linebacker, we can set it and forget it and go from here. I think you're going to see him line up on the edge, line up in all different facets within this defense, and they've illustrated that. Obviously, we saw this at Ohio State in terms of where he's been able to line up in his versatility. Part of the reason why he was drafted so high at the 2026 NFL draft, but there's another shoe to drop here that I think is also interesting. Obviously, you look at what the New York Giants have on the depth chart, and they are flush with pass rushers. Well, what happens if one of those pass rushers,

Kayvon Thibodeaux, final year of his deal, possibly gets moved at some point. Well, then all of a sudden, you do need him a little bit more off the edge. So, there's going to be a lot of mixing and matching over the course of this summer. If there's an injury pops up somewhere across the NFL where a team needs an edge rusher, well, then all of a sudden those Kayvon Thibodeaux rumors will spark right back up. We'll see what ultimately happens, but this is a player that I think is going to wear many hats in Harbaugh's defense. And we will see what it looks like because defense first, often the mantra there with coach Harbaugh. I know year two for the quarterback is going to be very much sink or swim, but the success

and failure of that football team at large I see on that side of the ball. Good news on the offensive side of the ball also here. Malik Nabers, the aforementioned, the budding wideout star trying to get back on track after multiple knee surgeries, the second one this offseason. The latest is that he's not going to be on the pup list to start camp, and week one is not necessarily out of the question. So, fair to say September the target for Nabers? Yeah, absolutely. I think that this is massive news for the New York Giants because I should say giant news for the New York Giants because I did not think that this was going to be possible from Malik Nabers. I felt like this guy was

destined to start the training camp on PUP. Heck, maybe even start the season on the PUP list and miss multiple weeks out of the gate. The fact that they are at least opening the door for the possibility of this player being ready for week one, that is a remarkable turn after an off season full of headlines where it felt like that was certainly not going to be the case coming off an ACL tear last year, underwent a second cleanup procedure this off season. It just felt like the vibes around Malik Nabers were not great. I did a top 25 under 25 article for CBS but sports not too long ago and he wasn't on it simply because I was unsure if he was actually going to be on the field. The

fact that we're talking about now him being a factor for Jackson Dart in year two, going into this offense to be that true number one, it really does change the complexion of how we should be looking at the New York Giants and how we should be looking at Jackson Dart. If you're telling me that Dart's healthy, Scatt is healthy, and Nabers is healthy, all right, with those guys on defense, look out for them. Yeah, no excuse here to not produce at a high level if you have the full form of Malik Nabers back in the mix, those glimpses that we saw early in his career. It's also new money season for some big names in that 23 draft class

coming up for contracts, particularly a couple big name DBs. Sounds like Devon Witherspoon's going to be first to the table. You've got the new McDuffie deal at the top of the market right now. Witherspoon and New England's Christian Gonzalez both expected to clear that. Both, interestingly enough, repped by Reggie Johnson at CAA. Do you expect the money to mirror each other? Is this sort of you go, no you go, no you go and $1 more? Well, it's a great day to be an agent of those two, right? Either way, you are you come out a winner on that one and boy, you're talking about 30 plus million dollars. The Trent McDuffie one probably is going to be surpassed.

Either one, probably both will be market setting once they are both agreed upon. I think that Devon Witherspoon goes first. I think that just feels like the momentum is moving in that direction. And then whenever that deal gets done, well then, all right, Mike Vrabel, Robert Kraft, everybody around Christian Gonzalez, line up because you're going to have to match that. And I always found that to be a little bit interesting. Obviously, when you're an organization looking on you're on the doorstep of signing a player to a market-setting deal, I always would think that you would want to be the first one there, right? It's more financially prudent to be the team that signs him first because if you're Devon Witherspoon, if you're the Seattle

Seahawks, you sign him to a market-setting deal, well then all of a sudden the Christian Gonzalez deal is going to probably top that, right? So, I just wonder why it's taken maybe the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks up until the eve of training camp for some of these clubs to get this deal done, especially when you have the two neck and neck trying to be that highest-paid player at their position in the NFL. Both have performed in high-leverage spots over these last couple years as well. Tyler Sullivan, appreciative as always for your insight here on CBS Sports HQ. Football is nearly here as we take a look at our training camp schedule.

We'll have reports beginning Wednesday, July 29th, where the Raiders try and get up off the mat. The Houston Texans look to take another step forward, but that's all on the arm of quarterback C.J. Stroud, who could play for some new money as well. Then Thursday, July 30th, our team busy with the Bills, the Bucks, and the Chargers. When you need your sports news all the time, we've got breaking news to bring to you. CBS Sports HQ gives you a snapshot of all the sports that matter to you. Big news coming out of the NFL. A lot of movement in the rankings this week. With highlights.

What a finish at the final round of play. And in-depth analysis. Can they three-peat? Tony Romo joins the conversation. What can you say about this game? When you need your sports in a slam We're bringing you that breaking news right here on HQ. Find it on CBS Sports HQ. Streaming free anywhere you are.