Drafting Fernando Mendoza is a pivotal mark in the Las Vegas Raiders‘ history. One can easily mark this point and look at this as a before-Mendoza and after-Mendoza situation. Because the stakes have changed; this is one of the best college prospects to have come to the NFL in some time. And the Raiders of all teams have got him.
But the NFL poured cold water over such an important aspect for the franchise. The No. 1 pick of the 2026 draft will not be playing in any primetime games this season. Raiders columnist Paul Gutierrez saw this as a great injustice.
“The Raiders not appearing in ANY Primetime games this coming season for the first time since 2010 (barring any flexing), let alone being skipped over for an international game for the seventh straight season (the longest such streak in the NFL), is nasty work,” Gutierrez wrote. “And no holiday games? Insulting. Disrespectful, even.”
The Raiders are one of the five teams without any Primetime games this season. Alongside the Silver and Black, the New York Jets, the Arizona Cardinals, the Tennessee Titans, and the Miami Dolphins also failed to secure a marquee game. The obvious reason behind this is that, except for the Dolphins, the other teams finished at 3-14 last year.
Did we just become best friends?
Tune in to the Schedule Release Show on NFL Network pic.twitter.com/2XPvFhXx4s
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) May 15, 2026
It can be assumed that these teams won’t be getting better immediately, and hence, to present the product to a larger audience, the NFL decided not to present them with marquee matchups. The last time the Raiders faced zero primetime games was in 2010. There’s clearly so much that fans are interested in seeing.
Las Vegas has the seventh-toughest schedule in the league. After beginning their season with the Dolphins, the Raiders are on the road for two consecutive games. November also turns difficult with games at Denver and Cleveland. To close out the season, Las Vegas will play in Arizona and freezing Kansas City. FOX Sports projects a 4-13 record for the Raiders, which is very much possible. But there are pieces in this team who shouldn’t be ignored.
Mendoza will very likely not be starting this season, which is one big reason why the Raiders have zero primetime games. But there is a chance he gets to make a few plays, and maybe start for one or two games. The team still has an elite tight end in Brock Bowers and a great rushing threat in Ashton Jeanty. And, the Raiders have a brand new head coach in Klint Kubiak, who won the Super Bowl last year with the Seattle Seahawks. Gutierrez ardently points this out in his takeaways from the schedule.
“What if the Raiders, under their fourth different GM/coach pairing in as many years (John Spytek and Kubiak, step right up), get off to a decent start and Cousins is humming?
Clearly, the Raiders have played big in the offseason. They let their big guns do the talking in their schedule release teaser, too.
Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins turn ‘best friends’
If there were still any notions of the rookie and the veteran still having some friction between themselves, the duo has taken a step to quash them. The Raiders chose to parody the comedy classic Step Brothers for their schedule release teaser, which stars Mendoza and Cousins. They both instruct each other to refer to themselves as the ‘Nandolorian’ and ‘Kirk Ochains.’
The two quarterback later connect in the Raiders locker room, and find out that they have a common ground in their love for Star Wars, and their favorite football play.
“Did we just become best friends?” Mendoza asked.
“Yup!” Cousins replied, enthusiastically.
The dynamic between the two is a big selling point for the Raiders. Cousins was signed with the clear idea of being a mentor for Fernando Mendoza. He might be a star already, but he’s still a rookie. How Cousins helps develop him into the starter that the Raiders have envisioned him to be is also something that fans will want to see.
“But what if Mendoza pulls a Derek Carr and Cousins a Matt Schaub, circa 2014 training camp?” Gutierrez added. “Like ‘Step Brothers,’ we’ve seen that movie before, too.”
The Raiders are gearing up to kick up some storm in the NFL. They might very well be brought down by the weight of their schedule, but there’s also the ‘what if’ aspect of football. Cousins, Mendoza, Kubiak, and all the new additions to the Raiders could make for a story that the league would regret missing out on.
