Kirk Cousins Wouldn’t Mentor Penix in Atlanta. Now He’s Getting $20 Million to Mentor Mendoza in Vegas.
On Thursday, the Las Vegas Raiders signed Kirk Cousins to a deal worth up to $172 million over five years, with $20 million guaranteed in 2026. The four-time Pro Bowler, now 37, will almost certainly be joined by the first overall pick in the draft later this month — widely expected to be Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. The plan is clear: Cousins starts, Mendoza learns, and sometime in 2027 or 2028, the torch passes. It’s the same plan Kansas City had with Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes. There’s just one problem.
Last year in Atlanta, Cousins was asked to do the same thing with Michael Penix Jr., the eighth overall pick. By multiple reports, he refused. An Atlanta source indicated that Cousins’ unwillingness to help Penix was an issue for the Falcons. He didn’t want to teach a young player to take his job. This isn’t unusual — it’s the default setting for most NFL quarterbacks. The unusual ones are the Alex Smiths of the world, who invite the rookie into the film room, walk them through reads, and promise not to undercut them. That’s the exception. Cousins was the rule. The question is whether $20 million in guaranteed money changes the calculus.
“Alex Smith invited Mahomes into his film room and promised not to undercut him. Brett Favre was ‘actually cruel’ to Aaron Rodgers. Kirk Cousins refused to help Penix Jr. The mentor spectrum is wide — and $20 million doesn’t automatically move you to the right end of it.”
— The Sports Page, on the economics of mentorshipThe Mentor-Rookie Scoreboard, 2001–2026
| Year | Veteran | Rookie | Relationship | Sat Yr 1? | Rookie Became |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Jon Kitna | Carson Palmer | Supportive | Yes | Star |
| 2003 | Kerry Collins | Eli Manning | Professional | Yes | Star |
| 2005 | Brett Favre | Aaron Rodgers | HOSTILE | Yes | Star (despite Favre) |
| 2005 | Drew Bledsoe | Tony Romo | Professional | Yes | Star |
| 2012 | Alex Smith | Colin Kaepernick | Tense | No | Mixed |
| 2017 | Alex Smith | Patrick Mahomes | GOLD STANDARD | Yes | Star (3 Super Bowls) |
| 2019 | Joe Flacco | Drew Lock | Refused | No | Bust |
| 2020 | Aaron Rodgers | Jordan Love | Supportive | Yes | Decent |
| 2022 | Ryan Tannehill | Malik Willis | Contentious | Yes | Bust |
| 2024 | Kirk Cousins | Michael Penix Jr. | HOSTILE | No | TBD |
| 2026 | Kirk Cousins | Fernando Mendoza | ??? | Expected | TBD |
Mentoring by the Numbers
Why Mentoring Works in Every Sport Except the NFL QB Room
They’ve Seen This Movie Before
In 2017, the Chiefs drafted Mahomes 10th overall to replace Smith, who was coming off a strong playoff season. Smith could have been bitter. Instead, he invited Mahomes into the film room, walked him through defensive reads, and promised he would never undercut him — a deliberate contrast to what he’d heard about Favre and Rodgers. Mahomes sat for one year, then exploded: 5,000 yards, 50 TDs, MVP in Year 2. Three Super Bowls followed. Smith was traded to Washington and later called it ‘the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve done.’
When the Packers drafted Rodgers 24th overall in 2005, Favre famously said it wasn’t his job to get the kid ready. Reports described behavior ranging from cold indifference to outright cruelty — excluding Rodgers from team activities, pranking his equipment, making his life miserable. Rodgers sat for three years, became an MVP anyway, and later vowed never to treat Jordan Love the same way. The moral: talent can overcome a toxic mentor. But it doesn’t have to be that hard.
