The Las Vegas Raiders used the first overall selection in the NFL draft on Fernando Mendoza, but will not begin training camp by treating the rookie as their starting quarterback.

Head coach Klint Kubiak confirmed that Kirk Cousins will take the opening first-team repetitions when Las Vegas begins practice, placing the 37-year-old at the front of a depth chart that also includes Mendoza, Aidan O’Connell and undrafted rookie Jacob Clark.

“When we go out to practice, Kirk Cousins is the starting quarterback,” Kubiak said during his opening camp press conference. “He’s the guy, and he deserves it because he’s played really good football. But I want Fernando and Aidan to push him.”

Cousins signed with Las Vegas in April after two difficult seasons with Atlanta, but his arrival was initially framed as part insurance policy and part support system for whichever quarterback the Raiders selected. Mendoza’s subsequent arrival with the #1 pick appeared to establish a familiar arrangement in which an experienced starter would keep the position warm until the rookie was ready. Kubiak’s comments, however, suggest Cousins has earned a more substantial opportunity during the offseason programme.

“I would say his value as a player on our team is the most important thing,” Kubiak said of the veteran. “His leadership, his veteran presence and the way that he played in the spring was excellent. We brought him here to play really good football and, obviously, the mentorship is a byproduct of that. That’s the kind of guy that Kirk is.”

Cousins also offers considerable familiarity with the offense Kubiak is installing during his first season as an NFL head coach. The pair spent three years together in Minnesota, with Kubiak serving first as quarterbacks coach and later offensive coordinator. Cousins passed for 12,089 yards and 94 touchdowns during those three seasons and that history gives Kubiak a quarterback capable of teaching the system through his own execution while Mendoza adapts to the professional game. It does not, however, provide Cousins with immunity from competition.

The Raiders did not invest the most valuable selection in the draft without expecting Mendoza to become the face of the franchise. The former Indiana quarterback enters camp having signed his rookie contract only last week, meaning his first task is closing an inevitable experiential gap before he can challenge the order established during the spring.

“Everybody in the quarterback room is a top-tier quarterback and it’s going to be competing with each other, not competing against each other,” Mendoza said before the veterans reported.

Kubiak similarly avoided placing a fixed timetable upon the transition.

“Kirk knows, and Fernando knows, and Aidan knows and Jacob knows that they’re here to play great football,” he said. “And that’s our job as coaches is to get them ready for the other stuff.”

Cousins therefore enters camp as something more than the ceremonial incumbent, but less than an unquestioned long-term starter. Las Vegas can allow Mendoza to develop without forcing the issue, while retaining the freedom to change course if the rookie proves ready sooner than anticipated.