The Las Vegas Raiders chose Indiana Hoosiers star Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, when the team released its depth chart on Monday, Mendoza was not at the top.
On Monday, the Raiders released their first depth chart of the offseason ahead of their preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night. At the starting quarterback position, veteran Kirk Cousins was listed as the starter, with Mendoza listed as the backup.
As NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, this isn’t wholly unexpected, even if it breaks modern convention. While most teams in the modern NFL plan to play their first-round rookie quarterbacks, the Raiders seem to be taking a different approach.
“The Raiders seem to be intent on starting the season with Cousins under center, and to not having a true competition between Cousins and Mendoza. It’s an approach that cuts against the modern approach of getting highly-drafted quarterbacks ready and putting them on the field, if only to give them the reps that will help the game slow down for them sooner rather than later,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk this week.
That said, Florio does expect that Mendoza will be the team’s starting quarterback by the end of the season even if Cousins is the starter for Week 1.
“The initial Las Vegas depth chart contains no real surprises. If Mendoza isn’t playing by the end of the 2026 season, that will be a major surprise,” Florio added.
All of this aligns with the way Mendoza and the Raiders have discussed the quarterback situation.
During an appearance on the team’s Upon Further Review podcast, Mendoza characterized the quarterback “competition” as more of a cooperative effort than a competition, saying he and Cousins are “competing with each other, not competing against each other.”
“Competing with each other [is] pushing each other to be the best quarterback we can possibly be for the Las Vegas Raiders, and to enable [us] to then win as many games as possible,” Mendoza said. “Against [is] withholding information, wishing maybe not the best intent on somebody.”
Regardless, someone will have to take the snaps at the beginning of the season. We’ll have to see how it all plays out.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.