Raiders make NEW signing... Multiple Wild Updates | Las Vegas Raiders News

On Tuesday morning, the Raiders traded Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings. And as a result, the Raiders had an extra roster spot. And by Tuesday night, Cousins' spot on the roster belonged to a defensive tackle. His name is Tim Keenan. He's a rookie. The Rams cut him right before the season started. And he spent the year on the Raiders practice squad. Keenan was elevated for the 49ers game on Sunday. And Sam Warren reported it was his third and final standard elevation before He had to officially be signed to the 53-man roster. When you're on the practice squad and you're a practice squad player, you only get three of those. So the Raiders had a choice. Sign him or lose him from the game day roster for the rest of the year. He has played 49% of the snaps at defensive tackle. And per Bill Williamson and most fans, this was not a hard choice. This was a no-brainer signing. And it was made official on Tuesday evening that Tim Keenan has been signed to the 53-man roster. Warren said that it fills the void that Kirk Cousins left as a roster spot, of course, not positionally. And Chris Williams, a defensive tackle who worked out for the team, has now been assigned to the practice squad. Tim Keenan was a seventh round pick, 232nd overall of the Rams. They cut him right before the season started and the Raiders signed him to the practice squad on September 7th. His first elevation on October 25th was against the Rams, the same team that cut him, and the Raiders lost that game 35-21. Then came the Jets game, a 38-33 win, and then the 49ers game, a 38-17 loss, so the Raiders went 1-2 in his three games so far this season. At Alabama, he was a team captain in 2025 with 12 starts and two tackles. He is 6'2", 320 pounds, and This is a move that is, you know, a depth move for the team, but nonetheless, he did play well and earn his way onto the 53-man roster. Now, this was a pretty big move and one that most people were expecting, but talking about unexpected moves, there was a move at the trade deadline, and now we have some clarity on who the new number one starting quarterback is. And that is Fernando Mendoza making his NFL starting debut. And that goes down this Sunday against Seattle as they visit Las Vegas. And right now on Kalshi, Seattle has a 72% chance to win with people trading at just 28% on the Raiders. And right now, if you trade $25 on the Raiders, it returns and pays out up to $85 dollars as of today because of the trade a lot of people are trading on Seattle which can be understandable there's a lot of uncertainty going into Sunday but if you believe in Mendoza you believe in what Spytek and Clint Kubiak are seeing again $25 traded on them right now returns $85 and guys that brings me to today's sponsor Kalshi thank you to Kalshi for sponsoring the video if you're interested in trying out Kalshi use the link in the description or the pin comment use Digest NFL as new users will get $55 added instantly to their account when you trade your first $25. Thank you once again to CalSheet for sponsoring this video. Now let's get into what Sunday looks like and what the future looks like with some of the other moves that the Raiders have been making. So Sunday in San Francisco was pretty ugly. The 49ers scored first, led the whole way, and then ended up winning 38 to 17. The Vikings' new quarterback, Kirk Cousins, threw three interceptions, his first game like that since week 13 of 2024. The Raiders had five turnovers after halftime, and one was a pick six that made it 28-10. Brock Bowers was once again fantastic. He had seven catches for 111 yards in the loss, so the offense did have some things going that day. Now, Monday, it was really quiet. There was reportedly no trade calls with the Raiders. They weren't going to make any moves. And Cousins himself commented and said that, His future is out of his hands at that point. Nobody really thought that he was going to be traded. And Tuesday morning at the media availability after the trade deadline, John Spitex said himself that there was no call there. They weren't making calls. They weren't receiving calls on Kirk Cousins. And then he said that he got a few phone calls and one real phone call yesterday morning from the Viking. And apparently they went out and told Kirk Cousins first, and they just wanted to, you know, give him that opportunity. And they said that they think that they owed him that respect. This is not a team that is dumping a quarterback who was struggling or anything like that, obviously, obviously, right? But when you look at the whole situation, now this opens up a whole new door. It opens up a brand new era for Fernando Mendoza. And on Instagram, Kirk Cousins sent some goodbyes to the team and told Mendoza to go get them. And before we get into what this means for Mendoza, if you guys are enjoying the daily content on everything going down with the Raiders, make sure to go down below, hit that free subscribe button so you can stay up to date with everything that's happening with your Las Vegas Raiders. We just hit 4,000 subscribers. Thank you so much for the support out here on the channel, guys. And we're well on our way to our new goal of 5,000 subscribers. And again, I'm going to continue to bring you guys daily updates on everything that's happening with the Raiders. But now let's get into... And how exciting this is about to get. So GM John's by text message after the trade deadline was very clear. He said this in no way signifies that we are punting on this season or looking forward to 2027. The Raiders are currently four and five. They're ninth in the AFC. They're three and a half games behind Buffalo and seven teams make the playoffs. Earlier this season, it was said by owner Mark Davis that Cousins could bridge the gap for Mendoza. Well, he did. And it lasted nine games, and he did a fantastic job, and thank you for your service, sir. But now it is time for Fernando Mendoza. And like I mentioned earlier in the video, Cousins' roster spot went to the defensive tackle, Tim Keenan, because the quarterback room already has Mendoza and A.J. Cole. The defense that gave up 38 to San Francisco and gives up 38 every single week gets a body, and then the offense now gets taken over by a rookie who's been learning from one of the game's best. Now, looking forward to Mendoza's first start, GM John Spitek had this to say about Mendoza, the number one pick. He said this is something that he's worked very hard for since the moment he walked into this building. He has passed every single test. Spitek also said, and this is not just from the GM, by the way, I saw multiple insiders talking about this yesterday, that he, quote, performed at a level in practice that was impossible to ignore. And now his first start comes Sunday. against the Seattle Seahawks. Kubiak also mentioned that he is prepared and that he has practiced extremely well and is ready for this moment. Kubiak also added that Mendoza's actually exceeded expectations since coming in day one. And of course, the GM and the coach are gonna be saying this stuff, but he also added that, you know, with the right role model, that will accelerate his growth. And we had the right role model with Kirk Cousins. So all of that mixed into one. You, as a fan, can actually believe what they're saying and can actually be getting really excited for what we're about to witness. And on Cousins, Kubiak said that his influence on Mendoza and the quarterback room has been, quote, tremendous. So Cousins is out and Mendoza is in. And here's what the rookie has done in the NFL so far. 48 passing yards. And Cousins had 2,340. Now, it's not going to be easy. There is a tall task here. For Mendoza, Seattle comes in with the top ranked defense, according to a Seattle reporter, Craig Bell. Now, after they get through this three game gauntlet, the schedule does soften a little bit. They host the currently 0-8 Chargers and the 1-7 Titans, and then they close the season in Kansas City. Everything that he has shown so far has basically been in practice, but the coaching staff believes in him. Fan base has to get behind this guy because he's the future star. Face of this franchise, and there is a path here for success this season. Again, tall task coming up the next couple of games, but as the schedule weakens a little bit, time to start building some confidence. So the full slate ahead is Seattle, Denver, a week 13 by the Chargers, the Titans, and then again, finishing the season in Kansas City. And that's a long enough runway to see who he is and who he is through adversity. Right. Which I think is very exciting. So no one's going to be able to say that it was a one week test that didn't go well or whatever it is. You know, let's see how he does and then we can judge him after three, four, five games. We're going to have a large sample size here the rest of the way. And like I mentioned, there is the week 13 by which gives him a little bit of time to breathe. He's going to have a lot going to be a tough workload early on, gives him a second to breathe, reload, apply everything that he has learned from cousins and being on the field by himself. And again, this isn't an audition and this, you know, can't go super poorly either because Spytek officially called him the starter going forward. He is the starting quarterback of this team for the foreseeable future. Mendoza, by the way, has his first media availability as the starting quarterback of the Raiders later today. And I'll have you guys covered for all of that and all the fallout from that on the channel as well. And it should be an exciting press conference because Spytek came out yesterday and said, We're not punting on this season. We are still looking to win. We are looking to be competitive, and we believe that this move doesn't change that. We believe in this rookie. And I guess we're just going to have to wait and find out how that looks on Sunday when a 4-5 team puts a rookie against the top-ranked defense in the league. And the defending Super Bowl champions, Seattle Seahawks. So to wrap it up with a nice bow here, this is where everything stands. The Raiders are four and five, three and a half games back behind Buffalo, with Cousins gone and Keenan on the 53-man roster. Mendoza gets his first NFL start on Sunday against Seattle, and SpyTech has said that he is the starter going forward. He is the man. I think it's very exciting that this team wants to continue to compete. I think Sunday is going to have a lot of eyeballs on it from Raiders fans and just fans around the league to see how Mendoza does. And this is a wild first game for a rookie. Absolutely wild scenario that he is walking into. And let's see what happens on Sunday. Can Mendoza continue to get the offensive weapons that have been really good on this team to continue to play very well? Is it just a defensive disaster class again and they get absolutely blown out? Or is it a shootout? I think that could be a lot of fun too. Seattle is dealing with some injuries right now, but it all starts Sunday. The Mendoza era. Guys, let me know in the comments below. Do the Raiders make the playoffs? Let me know down below. Comment yes or no. I want to hear your thoughts. Tell me why as well. You think that they will or won't make the playoffs? It's still definitely possible. Small percentage, but let me know in the comments how you feel. Once again, Mendoza's. First start is Sunday at four o'clock Eastern against Seattle. We'll break all of that down here on the channel. Thank you so much for watching, guys. It's gonna be a wild ride the next week or so. My name is Darius Dominguez. This is Raiders Digest, and I'll see you in the next video.