NFL Insider Mike Garafolo Breaks Down the NFL’s Top QB Competitions

With OTAs underway and mini camps a few months out, Rich asked Mike Garafolo to spotlight the most interesting NFL quarterback competition heading into training camp. Garafolo's answer was specific.

It is not Minnesota.

"Kyler's going to be the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, right?" Garafolo said. "In what world is he not?"

Atlanta, in Garafolo's read, depends entirely on Michael Penix Jr.'s recovery from his second ACL surgery. If the health question is still open in late July, the starter is the available veteran. Cleveland, despite the volume of public storytelling about Shedeur Sanders, will wind up being Deshaun Watson's job out of the gate. The Browns have too much capital sunk into Watson to bench him without first finding out what he is one more time.

The competition Garafolo finds genuinely interesting is Las Vegas.

The Raiders have publicly signaled that the plan is to let Kirk Cousins start while Fernando Mendoza acclimates. Kliff Kingsbury has been on record about the philosophical value of letting a rookie quarterback watch and learn. Garafolo agrees with the framework. He just thinks Mendoza could blow it up.

"Mendoza, the energy, what he does in the preseason, some of these shots were amazing," Garafolo said. He gestured at one in particular that had impressed him. "It's got the ability to bring some juice."

Garafolo addressed the most common knock on Mendoza head-on. The rookie does not project as the classic alpha quarterback, the dude personality that lights up locker rooms and dominates pressers.

"You didn't have to be the rah-rah, alpha male all the time type personality to lead a team," Garafolo said. He pulled the comparison from his own beat history. Eli Manning, whom Garafolo covered for years, was famously goofy and quiet by quarterback standards. He led real rooms by playing well and showing teammates more than fans ever saw.

"You play good football, they will follow," Garafolo said. "That's what I expect with Fernando Mendoza."

That is why Las Vegas, on Garafolo's training-camp itinerary, is the stop most likely to produce a surprise. The depth chart looks one way today. Garafolo expects it to look different by Week 1.

If Mendoza forces the issue, Kingsbury will not stand in his way.