Raiders name Kirk Cousins Week 1

Kirk Cousins will open the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2026 season as their starting quarterback after coach Klint Kubiak chose the veteran over rookie Fernando Mendoza this week. ESPN reported Wednesday that Kubiak said Cousins would start the Sept. 13 opener against the Miami Dolphins in Las Vegas. The decision means Mendoza, the 2026 No. 1 overall pick, will begin his NFL career on the bench rather than as an immediate starter. Multiple outlets, including UPI and The Athletic, said the move had been widely expected after the Raiders signed Cousins in the offseason and carried the competition through training camp and the preseason. (espn.com) ### Why did the Raiders go with Cousins for Week 1? Klint Kubiak made the call before the regular-season opener and did not leave the competition unresolved into game week. ESPN said the first-year Raiders coach announced Wednesday that Cousins would start against Miami, ending the question that had hovered over the team since the draft. (upi.com) Kirk Cousins, 38, arrived in Las Vegas after spending 2025 as a backup with the Atlanta Falcons, according to The Athletic. The Raiders added him in free agency even after later using the No. 1 overall pick on Mendoza, a pairing that set up one of the league’s most closely watched quarterback decisions of the summer. (espn.com) ### Who is Fernando Mendoza in this competition? Fernando Mendoza entered the league with the pressure that comes with being drafted first overall in 2026. UPI, CBS Sports and Sporting News all identified him as the No. 1 pick, and ESPN reported that he lost the opening assignment to Cousins rather than becoming an immediate Week 1 starter. (nytimes.com) The choice puts Mendoza in a backup role at the start of the season, but it does not settle the longer-term question of when the rookie may play. NBC Sports and USA Today both framed the move as a Week 1 decision, not a season-long guarantee, while noting that Mendoza will serve as Cousins’ backup to open the year. (upi.com) ### What does this say about the Raiders’ timeline? Las Vegas paired a veteran quarterback with a top rookie investment, a structure that gives the coaching staff an experienced starter while keeping Mendoza out of the lineup at the outset. The Athletic said Cousins will start for his fourth NFL franchise, underscoring the Raiders’ reliance on experience for the opener. (nbcsports.com) The offseason sequence matters here. Sporting News reported that the Raiders first signed Cousins in free agency and then selected Mendoza with the first pick in the draft, leaving Kubiak to balance immediate competitiveness with the development of a quarterback the franchise may view as its future. (nytimes.com) ### When and where will Cousins make his Raiders debut? The Raiders’ first regular-season game is set for Sunday, Sept. 13, at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders’ official schedule lists Miami at Las Vegas at 1:25 p.m. Pacific time, and the Dolphins’ official schedule lists the same game at 4:25 p.m. Eastern time on FOX. (sportingnews.com) NFL.com’s Week 1 listings also show Miami at Las Vegas in the late Sunday window. That game will now mark Cousins’ first regular-season start for the Raiders and Mendoza’s first regular-season game as a backup. ### What comes next for the quarterback situation? Sept. 13 is the next concrete checkpoint because it will show how Kubiak deploys Cousins in a live regular-season setting against Miami. (raiders.com) If Cousins starts and finishes the opener, Mendoza’s first NFL action would have to wait beyond Week 1. Week 2 is already on the Raiders’ schedule for Sunday, Sept. 20, against the Los Angeles Chargers. (nfl.com) For now, the only official decision announced is that Cousins — not Mendoza — gets the first snap of the 2026 regular season. (raiders.com) (espn.com)