Kirk Cousins Named Raiders' Week 1 Starter Over Rookie Mendoza
Jul 28, 2026
Cousins wins the Raiders' QB job — for now
Klint Kubiak has settled the opening question of Raiders camp: veteran Kirk Cousins will start ahead of No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. It's a camp designation, not a season-long guarantee, but it tells you Las Vegas wants a steady hand under center rather than throwing a rookie into the fire right away.
What it means for your survivor pick
A competent veteran quarterback usually raises a team's floor, and that matters when you're deciding who to pick this week. But the schedule tells the real story for Vegas. The Raiders don't even appear in our early game data until Week 3, when they travel to face the Saints — and New Orleans is the 3-point favorite. That makes Las Vegas a road underdog in its first data point, which is not the profile of a safe survivor pick regardless of who's taking snaps.
The more interesting flip side: New Orleans as a Week 3 home favorite. The Saints open at Detroit (getting 7) and at Baltimore (getting 7.5) before hosting the Raiders, so that Week 3 home game is their first favored spot on the board. If you're building a plan and weighing which favorites to save, check the survivor pool rules on repeat teams before you commit. For now, treat the Cousins-led Raiders as a wait-and-see rather than an early lock — and if you don't have a pool yet, start a free survivor pool to run the numbers.