Raiders close mandatory minicamp as Fernando Mendoza earns first-team reps

The Las Vegas Raiders completed their second and final practice of mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, bringing an end to the team’s required offseason work before training camp begins in late July. Head coach Klint Kubiak is scheduled to hold a media briefing Thursday morning, a routine checkpoint after mandatory sessions end and as the Raiders reset for the heavier workload of camp.

A key focus during the minicamp practice period was how players handled reps with the first group, and Mendoza stood out in that setting, drawing “first team” work during the session. For teams, those early sorting moments are often less about long-term labels and more about readiness and execution, particularly when coaches can look for instincts under practice tempo and structured walk-through periods.

Mandatory minicamp itself carries specific league context. It is designed to give teams a standardized window for coaching, conditioning, and system installation, while ensuring players attend sessions that count toward the league’s offseason requirements. With the Raiders finishing Wednesday’s practice, the team now moves into a downtime stretch where coaches typically use meetings and individualized development before players reconverge for training camp.

The Raiders will not practice again as a team until late July, meaning the next on-field indicator of Mendoza’s progress, and of others chasing roles, will come when the roster is fully back on the field. In that interim, the coaching staff’s evaluation often shifts to how players translate minicamp instruction into independent work, including film review, route or play practice at reduced scale, and conditioning upkeep.

For the Raiders, the immediate storyline is continuity of the offseason picture. Minicamp is usually where coaches confirm which players can handle the learning curve of a full-scheme environment, even if those reps are still within the confines of offseason football. First-team opportunities, like the ones Mendoza received, can become meaningful indicates for camp, where the competition for starting and rotation spots tightens.

What to watch next is how the Raiders carry that minicamp momentum into the start of training camp. If Mendoza continues to receive prominent reps once camp opens, it suggests the staff viewed the early work as more than a one-day evaluation. If the first-team distribution changes, it will indicate the Raiders have more candidates competing across the same group, with camp set to accelerate decisions.

Because this report is based on a single published practice update and does not include a full roster breakdown or detailed position-specific information, some specifics about Mendoza’s exact role and the depth-chart implications are best viewed as preliminary. The Thursday media briefing and the first day of training camp should offer clearer confirmation of who the Raiders expect to be in the mix early.