The NFL just did its splashy schedule release, but the Las Vegas Raiders weren’t exactly featured. The Raiders have some potential sizzle right now, but the networks are still wary after last year’s disastrous Pete Carroll/Geno Smith experience. The release put the focus once again on when newly-drafted quarterback Fernando Mendoza will start, and it’s an especially fascinating question when you look at it in the context of the schedule.
The questions to ask here is which opponents would give Mendoza the best chances of success, and when to the Raiders play them? It’s a tricky one to answer, but Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk went there and made some interesting points along the way.
The challenge in doing this with the Raiders is basically about finding the winnable games, then seeing if there are a couple that come back-to-back. Las Vegas has a really bad roster that could be a lot better based on the amount of money they’ve spent in free agency, and William flagged both the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints as games in the first four where the Raiders should at least compete.
The Dolphins are rebuilding, and they’re the home opener, so the Raiders will be operating with a clean slate in that one. The Saints pop up in Week 4, and even though it’s a road game New Orleans has won a total of just six games in the last two seasons.
If Mendoza is really competing with veteran bridge quarterback Kirk Cousins, the New Orleans game would represent the first real chance to bring Mendoza into a game and have a fighting chance. Coach Kling Kubiak is already on record multiple time as saying he doesn’t want to start a rookie in Week 1, so presumably that one’s out of the question.
Things get more complicated if the Raiders decide to wait. Williams pointed to the Cleveland Browns game in Week 12, which is followed by the bye. That would give the Raiders a chance to do a reset with Mendoza based on whatever mistakes he’s made, but he’d be facing the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos right after that.
If Mendoza can survive those games and still be playing well, though, opportunity awaits in the form of the Tennessee Titans and the Arizona Cardinals, and after that the Raiders finish the season with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The overarching question that goes with all this is about where the Raiders will be in their rebuild. It’s projected to be a long-term venture, and if Las Vegas is still bad with multiple holes the question becomes easier to answer. If the Raiders do win a few games early, though, there could be playoff speculation, as unilkely as that sounds, and that makes it a very different question to answer given how long it's been since the playoffs have been a possibility in Las Vegas.