Raiders hope Kirk Cousins starts season, delaying Fernando Mendoza debut

Fernando Mendoza may be the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, but the Las Vegas Raiders do not plan to start him in Week 1.

New head coach Klint Kubiak said in March that he would prefer Mendoza to learn behind an established quarterback. “You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world,” Kubiak said at the NFL Scouting Combine.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on his podcast that the Raiders are likely to keep Kirk Cousins as the starter at least through the first half of the season. Schefter pointed to a difficult stretch of games in November that includes four road contests.

The Raiders open November with a game at the New York Jets, then travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers. They return home to play the Seattle Seahawks before another road game against the Denver Broncos and a trip to Cleveland to face the Browns.

“That’s not a great time to have to go to your rookie quarterback if you haven’t gone to him by then,” Schefter said. “So, we could be seeing Kirk Cousins up until about December 1.”

After the Browns game, the Raiders have a bye week followed by three straight home games against the Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans. They close the season on the road against the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs.

Mendoza led Indiana to a national title and won the Heisman Trophy last season. The Raiders signed Cousins in the offseason and view Mendoza as their quarterback of the future, but the team has not signaled an open competition at the position entering training camp.