For the first time since 2010, the Raiders aren’t scheduled to have a primetime game in 2026 and that announcement wasn’t particularly well received by Raider fans.
“The league is definitely telling the Raiders that they’re going to have to earn their prime time action,” Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast last week.
“I did think with Fernando Mendoza being the quarterback, being the number one overall pick, Heisman Trophy winner, the national champion, that they would give him some looks. So I thought that they would probably get two or three prime time games…”
But according to Lincoln Kennedy, who co-hosts with Myers on the podcast, the Raiders might have been given a gift from the league by leaving them out of the national spotlight.
“I know it looks good on paper, but most players I know hated Monday night games [and] hated Thursday night games,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
“Some of them even hated Sunday night games because you want to get your, you get into a rhythm, you get into a routine as the season goes on, and you want to be able to maintain that rhythm routine,” Kennedy continued. “Monday night throws it off. You go through the entire weekend, you’re amped up, ready to play. You got to wait till Monday night. If you’re on the West Coast, you’re waiting till Monday evening, really literally Monday night. There’s a lot of time that transpires. Same thing with Thursday. [It] throws off your routine.”
Mendoza was drafted to be the franchise quarterback in Las Vegas, but some believe the Raiders were left off the primetime slate because there is an expectation that he won’t play much in his first season.
It’s no secret that the Raiders prefer to ease Mendoza into the lineup in 2026, and if Kirk Cousins plays well, it could be November or December before Mendoza will be on the field for a regular season game.
Of course, there’s also a chance Mendoza will outplay Cousins in training camp and/or the preseason, and if that happens the coaching staff will have a little more complicated decision on their hands.
x: @raidersbeat