Mike McCoy has been here before.

In his first season as the Las Vegas Raiders‘ assistant head coach and an offensive coach, McCoy is part of the group working with No.1 overall draft pick, quarterback Fernando Mendoza. This is the third time this decade he has worked with a young quarterback who was the No. 1 overall pick. He was Trevor Lawrence‘s quarterbacks coach starting in his second season and he was with Cam Ward last season in his rookie season as a Tennessee Titans‘ senior offensive assistant and then interim head coach.

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So, this is not an adjustment as he starts working with Mendoza. McCoy knows patience with young quarterbacks is key.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, just learning and mastering everything. There’s
going to be mistakes, but I’m a true believer in the only way to learn is by making some mistakes, and
there’s the ups and the downs,” McCoy said at the team’s recent minicamp. “Everybody’s different. Cam [Ward], he had his ups and downs early, and then he was so efficient at the end of the year … You say, ‘Just keep going, you’re going to learn. You got a very, very bright future,’ but it’s hard. The game, the tempo, the speed of the game, from the preseason to the regular season, you get into the playoffs, how the tempo just picks up, and you’re always learning.”

McCoy loves how coachable Mendoza has been since being drafted.

“The great thing about Fernando is, and I go back to one of the first times I met him or even go back to the combine when you have the interviews and things like that – you don’t have a lot of time at the combine – but is the questions that he asked. He wants to know why, and that’s the great thing,” McCoy said. “And I think Andrew [offensive coordinator Janocko] and the rest of the offensive staff have done a great job, because the first year is a challenge, not just for rookies, but for everybody. There’s so much information,
and you’re installing a system for the long haul. It’s not just this year, but it’s for the future, and it changes
from year to year, don’t get me wrong there. You’re always adjusting to your players and what they do
best. But the great thing about itis just the way the coaches have decided, ‘Okay, we have these six installs,
this is how we’re going to install it. We’re going to repeat it a number of times for the offseason program.
They’re going to come back to training camp, it’s back to day-one install again.’ But the most important
thing is to explain to these players, this is why we do it this way, this is why the footwork is, this is why we
have a certain five-step drop, seven-step drop, quick passing game, all those different things. Here’s the
protection rules and really explain to all the players this is why we’re doing things.”