2026 Las Vegas Raiders: New Faces, High Stakes, Tough Schedule

The las vegas raiders team total set at seven and a half Questions about this roster are everywhere You have a new Head coach and a new quarterback If you are a raider fan, you are hoping that the team has hit and struck gold with Fernando fernando mendoza I would have traded the pick i've been on record saying I wouldn't have taken them, but the raiders took them They also bring in a new quarterback our new new head coach rather for their quarterback in clint kubiak The question is going to be when does mendoza start? Kirk cousins being on this roster if I am the raiders i'm not playing Excuse me. I'm not playing mendoza unless We see an injury to kirk cousins in 2026 27 I'm not playing Mendoza this year i'm gonna let the kid learn I'm gonna work on him all year long. I'm gonna get him to be ready in case you have an injury But if kirk cousins does not get hurt Mendoza plays zero snaps in 2027 26 27 You have a fully competent kirk cousins and you have a roster that could be competitive Not with the rookie quarterback But with a veteran quarterback, you have a running game. That's worthwhile. The raiders have invested heavily on their offensive line They have changed the identity of this team And I think when you have a competent quarterback with a quarterback coach like clint kubiak Who has had success with kirk cousins under center? You can do both you can play for the now And you can play for the future Mendoza is your future kirk cousins is your right now and you can go and win nine 10 games if things break, right? The first break was getting mad max back And now you've got a defensive line and a defensive pass rusher in max crosby who can create all sorts of problems for opposing quarterbacks You're in an incredibly difficult division and frankly your schedule is awful. They open with miami That's a win then they're on the road to the chargers and the saints. That's a two-in-one start potential They all the raiders always play the chargers difficult It's not crazy that the raiders could open up three and oh on the year, but then it gets to be absolutely brutal Chiefs patriots bills rams. Good luck I mean that is a wipeout oh and four run right there for the raiders You could open up three, you know And then lose the next four and now you're three and four going to new york across the country To face the jets and then you're back home again sam Sorry, you're on the road to san francisco on the west coast. You could lose both those games easy Then you're home against seattle, which is going to be brutal. That's the clint kubiak revenge game against his former team Good luck with that the seahawks most likely win that game then you're at denver and at cleveland yikes It's cleveland outdoors in the later part of the year That's always a tough tough test for the raiders and then you're home for the chargers in denver and tennessee three games at home All three of those games could be losses depending on how the titans are playing if cam ward has taken a big step forward That could be really problematic if the defense for robert sala is playing really well for the titans And you end the year at arizona and at kansas city you should beat arizona clearly But then you're playing the chiefs for the last game of the regular season and the chiefs might need that game to get in They might need that game for the division That's a really hard schedule I think you can play for the now While you're also developing mendoza for the future Kirk cousins is a competent quarterback. I I know i'm kind of higher on this but like I I I just think it is going to be These two guys are two peas in a pod Addison saying give me all the behind the scenes content for mendoza and cousins I mean It's gonna be funny I mean these two guys are like wonder bread and white in white milk Like neither one of these guys mendoza tried to change his image and it felt funny After he got drafted by the raiders He started dropping a bunch of f-bombs at all these different raider events that he went to Like he'd get on the microphone and he like tried to be tom brady But brady never swore at those events brady always swore on the field So mendoza hasn't played yet So mendoza's coming up and like dropping these f-bombs and everyone's like bro like we don't need that man, like come on, there's kids in like in the audience like Stop, you know, so like I I think he's been coached up to stop it with the curse words But kirk cousins is he's kirkland kirk. Like that's what he is. He's just you know He's a multi multi-millionaire who shops at costco like that's just what this guy is It's the perfect mentor big brother little brother situation stepbrothers in real life the movie come to life type of situation And I think for a lot of people who are watching this raiders team. They're really Interested in that relationship as to how it's going to go because kirk cousins hasn't wanted to be The big brother he hasn't wanted to have that role he didn't want that role in atlanta That's why he's in in vegas, right? He was supposed to be that to michael pennex and he really wasn't interested He was just kind of like You know, maybe i'm here for You know that kid but i'm really here to play I want to win And and the falcons were like, yeah. No, we're we're good So now he's with the raiders