Is Fernando Mendoza in Front of a Mic the Best Thing in the NFL Right Now?

Reports came in fast and furious from the Raiders and Texans joint practice, and the headline was a snap count. Per Sam Warren of The Athletic, Kirk Cousins went first, but during a few team periods Las Vegas kept the ones on the field when Fernando Mendoza subbed in. First time anyone has seen that.

That is not a depth chart announcement. It is an evaluation, and the correct one, because a rookie cannot be judged against backups forever.

Neither quarterback had a clean day. Cousins threw a pick six. Mendoza was nearly picked in the red zone period and then threw a pick six of his own two plays later. Brock Bowers had a big day, which surprised nobody who watched him at Georgia or through one of the great rookie seasons ever.

Then Mendoza talked, and the football stopped mattering.

"To get some reps with the ones against the superstars on their defense, and then obviously their twos are fantastic as well," he said. "We got so much work, whether it was move the ball, first down, third down, red zone, two minute. There was so many situations, and I believe overall it was a positive day."

He kept going, and this is the part that had the studio hollering.

"There were plays that I loved and plays that I wish I had back. But in reality, that's a lie. I wish I didn't have them back, because it's a growing experience and it's practice," Mendoza said. "It's practice, and this is what I love, and it's a beautiful day to play football here, and I'm so happy I have so many things to learn from today."

Rich compared him to the quarterback of Sesame Street, brought to you today by the number one, and sponsored in the alternate reading by the number two. Somebody wondered whether anyone in this scenario gets to be the grouch in the trash can.

The lone dissent was that Mendoza is too nice. Rich pushed back with tape. Ohio State opened the Big Ten Championship trying to send this kid a message with a defense that included multiple top-11 draft picks, and he took it in the chin. He also went leaping for the end zone against Miami.

"You have to be a red ass to get up off the turf and do what he did," Rich said. The counter, fairly made, is that nice and tough are different things, and the concern is only whether a guy that sunny can go for the jugular.

Where this actually matters is October. Rich pulled the Raiders schedule to pay it off, and it is brutal. New Orleans on the road, in a building louder than anything Mendoza saw indoors in college. Kansas City at home. New England on the road. Buffalo at home. The Rams at home.

That might be the hardest October schedule in league history, and the calendar offers no soft landing after it either, with the Jets, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Cleveland to follow.

So the question is not whether Mendoza is charming. It is whether the Raiders let Cousins operate through that stretch or decide the kid is ready.

The evidence for ready is on his college tape. The final drive against the Nittany Lions. Oregon. Ohio State. Calling his own number on fourth down in the national championship game against Miami.

That is the same guy who just told a room full of reporters he could not tell a lie about wanting his bad plays back. The George Washington of football. Put him on a dollar bill.