Raiders throwing Fernando Mendoza to the fire at the worst time following Kirk Cousins trade

Before taking Mendoza, a move widely expected ahead of the draft, Las Vegas signed Cousins to a deal worth $20M guaranteed this season. At the annual league meeting in late March, first-year Raiders coach Klint Kubiak spoke about his thoughts on developing a young quarterback, telling reporters, "Ideally, you don't want him to start day one. 

"You'd love him to be able to learn behind somebody... I think it does help the player," Kubiak continued, "if they can sit behind a mature adult and watch how they run the show."

The Raiders better hope Mendoza took extensive notes, because there might not be a worse team for him to make his starting debut against.

Entering Week 10, the Seahawks have the league's best pass defense, allowing 155.1 yards per game. They've held an NFL-high eight of their opponents under 200 yards.

Mendoza doesn't project to get much help from the run game, either. This season, the Raiders are averaging a league-worst 2.9 yards per carry and 71.3 rushing yards per game.

The Seahawks and Broncos both rank in the top 10 in pressure rate, and with Las Vegas likely to live in third-and-long situations, Mendoza might spend the majority of the next two Sundays running for his life.

When deciding to take a patient approach with Mendoza, the Raiders probably weren't anticipating his first starts to come against the defending Super Bowl champs and then a road divisional opponent.

Las Vegas couldn't have picked a more brutal time to make the switch. Mendoza may have a long, successful career, but it might take some time for the glimmers to show.