NFL Insider Mike Garafolo Talks Tua, Giants, Bucs, Pats, Bills & More w/ Rich

Mike Garafolo has one answer on the Raiders quarterback job and one asterisk attached to it. "The consistent communication that I've received out of Las Vegas has been that Kirk Cousins is going to be the Week 1 starter," he told Rich. "However, I've been lied to before."

That asterisk is doing work, because Fernando Mendoza keeps closing the gap. Garafolo walked through a throw from the other night, the rookie getting to the top of his drop, setting his feet and ripping it between three defenders off play-action with his back turned to the defense. "Perfect execution. It was absolutely the way that you need to do it in this offense." Mendoza got reps with the starters while Cousins was sidelined and should get extensive preseason work the rest of the way. The summary: "Fernando Mendoza is doing a fantastic job right now. And expect to see him early in the season."

Cleveland's race was settled in Garafolo's head back in February, when someone he trusts explicitly told him at the combine that Deshaun Watson would start for the Browns and the take would hold for seven months. Watson has been in the pole position since spring and took reps with the starters. If Todd Monken sits his starters, Shedeur Sanders plays without them, which sets up the obvious complaint. "Prepare yourself for the blowback from folks who are going to say, well, he never got a fair shake," Garafolo said. "I still think it's going to be Watson."

Minnesota is the opposite story. J.J. McCarthy had a clear path last year, and Garafolo thought the Vikings erred by handing it over with nobody breathing down his neck. This year they told him to win it and he did not. Carson Wentz is playing well, the backup job is genuinely in question, and no rescue is coming from outside. "You're not bringing him in as your number two if he's not the number two in Minnesota."

Atlanta drew a joke from Chris about whether Tua Tagovailoa can manage more than one first down, which Garafolo let pass. He does know Kevin Stefanski believes in Tagovailoa, and people around the building say the outside panic is overblown. Michael Penix has been pushing to be declared healthy, and the roster math gets settled by cutdown day, roughly 10 days out.

On Jaxson Dart and the blue tent, Garafolo defended the process while conceding the confusion. "There's got to be a stumble, a slow to get up, a wobble, and there wasn't any of that." Somebody saw something, he believes, and the Giants will be clear with officials so it does not happen unnecessarily in the regular season. He also pushed back on the framing that the hit was on Dart. It was a missed blitz pickup by Tyrone Tracy, and that message got delivered sternly. Najee Harris arriving this week was separate, a Joe Schoen conversation already in motion. As for Malik Nabers, Garafolo has asked and is not getting a straight answer. "Wouldn't surprise me if they held him back to start the season."

Contracts came next. Vita Vea wanted multiple years and got one, which fits a Tampa Bay pattern of short deals for players in their 30s, the same thinking behind a two-year offer to Baker Mayfield and the two-year extension Mike Evans got a couple of years ago. Mayfield's camp countered with its own two-year proposal, so structure was never the issue. Total money and guarantees were.

Christian Gonzalez is stuck for a different reason. The same agency represents Gonzalez and Witherspoon, but Seattle sits in a tax-free state and Massachusetts does not, so matching numbers do not match in practice. Gonzalez has been looking at 35 and above against a market topped at 31 million a year, and New England does not do jumps that big. "They were just nowhere near the same ballpark."

Asked for the camp he cannot stop thinking about, Garafolo did not hesitate. "The best team I saw was the Buffalo Bills." Joe Brady has been waiting on a miscommunication just to have something to correct. DJ Moore has been phenomenal, the high-volume target that offense wanted. Even the new building impressed him, tighter to the field and steeper. "I think this is going to be a louder stadium than the Bills are used to."