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Despite drafting Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in hopes of reviving a team that limped to a 3-14 finish last season, the Las Vegas Raiders are already seeing a stark difference between how seriously they view their future and how the NFL currently views them. Mendoza has been one of the most heavily discussed rookie quarterbacks since entering the league, with fans and analysts eager to see whether the hype around his talent is truly justified. Yet when the 2026 schedule dropped, the Raiders were treated more like a low-priority television product. Naturally, it sparked frustration across the fanbase, and longtime Raiders columnist Paul Gutierrez did not hold back while reacting to the whole scheduling affair.
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“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.
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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
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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.
Still, what especially fueled the backlash around Las Vegas was the belief that a reigning national champion and Heisman Trophy winner like Mendoza would naturally draw national attention, even if the Raiders themselves are still rebuilding. As several fans pointed out online, this is reportedly just the third time in the last two decades that a team drafting a quarterback No. 1 overall failed to receive a single primetime game the following season.
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.
Gutierrez himself admitted there may be some logic behind the NFL keeping the Raiders away from the spotlight for now. Las Vegas is entering another reset with first-year head coach Klint Kubiak, new general manager John Spytek, and a rookie quarterback who may not even see the field immediately. The columnist even suggested the team might benefit from flying under the radar and settling into a regular Sunday-to-Sunday rhythm instead of carrying the pressure of constant national exposure.
Mendoza will very likely not be starting this season, which is one big reason why the Raiders have zero primetime games. Kubiak had already hinted back in March that, in an ideal situation, a rookie quarterback should sit and learn behind a veteran rather than be thrown into the fire from Day 1. That makes Kirk Cousins’ role even more important. But there is a chance Mendoza gets to make a few plays, and maybe start for one or two games.
Some fans have even joked that the timing of the Raiders’ unusually late Week 13 bye could quietly determine when Mendoza eventually takes over. 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 challenge for Las Vegas is that the schedule leaves very little room for an easy transition. Between Weeks 5 and 11 alone, the Raiders face the Patriots, Bills, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, and Broncos, a brutal stretch featuring multiple playoff teams and conference finalists from last season. Gutierrez also pointed out that four of the Raiders’ five November games are on the road, while the team closes the year with difficult trips to Arizona and Kansas City.
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.
Written by
Edited by
Afreen Kabir