The Las Vegas Raiders got a blunt little reality check from ESPN’s latest quarterback rankings: in the AFC West, life gets a lot harder when your own answer under center isn’t in the same neighborhood as the league’s best.
Jeremy Fowler surveyed executives, coaches and scouts to sort out the NFL’s top quarterbacks, and the division the Raiders live in came away looking loaded. Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes landed at No.
2, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert checked in at No. 7, and Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix also picked up top 10 votes. Mahomes was as high as No. 1, while Herbert peaked at No.
That’s the kind of backdrop that makes the Raiders’ quarterback situation feel even more urgent. Las Vegas didn’t have a signal-caller crack the top 10, receive an honorable mention or even get a vote. In a league built around quarterback play, that’s a rough place to be when two division rivals are already sitting near the top of the board.
The bigger issue is obvious: the Raiders are trying to build something meaningful in a division where the margin for error is tiny. The AFC West isn’t offering any easy route to relevance, and the path to the playoffs is a lot less forgiving than it is in some other parts of the league. Las Vegas can’t count on sneaking into the picture if it doesn’t have the right player leading the offense.
That’s why Fernando Mendoza matters so much to the long-term plan. The Raiders took the route that gave them a premier young quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft, and now the entire operation depends on him reaching somewhere close to his ceiling.
He doesn’t have to be perfect. He just has to be good enough to change the direction of the franchise.
There is some patience built into the setup. Kirk Cousins is in the building, so Mendoza won’t be forced into action immediately.
He’ll have time to learn before he’s thrown into the fire. But the larger point doesn’t change: if Mendoza never puts it together, Las Vegas is going to keep living in the basement of the AFC West.
The Raiders have reason for optimism around the current plan under John Spytek and Klint Kubiak, and the offseason has brought plenty of positivity to Las Vegas. Still, all of that only goes so far if the quarterback piece misses. If Mendoza doesn’t hit, the franchise could be staring at another reset.
Winning without an elite quarterback is possible, but it’s rare. Jalen Hurts and Sam Darnold have bucked that trend in recent years by winning Super Bowls without being top-tier quarterbacks, but that’s the exception, not the rule. For the Raiders, the lesson is simple: the roster can improve, the plan can look sound, and the optimism can be real, but none of it matters much unless Mendoza becomes at least a quality starter.
And if he does? Then maybe, in a year or two, with the team a little more grown up around him, the Raiders finally have a real shot to matter in January.
In the AFC West, that kind of leap isn’t optional. It’s the whole game.
In Other News...
Raiders Could Be Eyeing A Shocking Veteran Trade Next
The Raiders have spent the offseason trying to reshape the roster around a new quarterback plan, pairing the No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza with Kirk Cousins as the veteran bridge and adding enough pieces in free agency to keep the depth chart fluid. Even after bringing back Eric Stokes, the front office still has a few movable parts as it continues sorting out which veterans fit the long-term picture and which ones could become trade candidates if the younger core starts to take over quickly.
Cousins is the name that keeps hovering over that conversation because his deal gives Las Vegas a big-name fallback without locking the team into a permanent answer at the position. If Mendoza pushes for the job sooner than expected, the Raiders could be forced to decide whether to keep the veteran insurance in place or use his value elsewhere, and that kind of flexibility is exactly why this roster feels like it could still change shape in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Already Have One Painful 2025 Roster Miss To Explain
The Raiders took a swing on a batch of undrafted free agents in 2025, hoping to uncover a few cheap roster wins the way every team does when it chases hidden depth after the draft. Instead, the class has become a reminder of how fragile those bets can be, with several of the more notable additions already gone and no longer part of the NFL picture.
Mello Dotson, Jah Joyner, Tank Booker and Jarrod Hufford all failed to stick, while other names from that group have drifted into alternative leagues or away from pro football altogether. For a team still trying to build reliable depth without spending much, the bigger concern is less about one player than the broader return on an entire class that has already thinned out so quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders UDFA Struggles Point To A Bigger Problem With Spytek
The Raiders 2025 undrafted free agent class was supposed to be a low-cost way to uncover help, but the early returns have been rough. Of the highest-paid UDFAs John Spytek brought in, only tight end Carter Runyon is still on the roster, a reminder that the team did find at least one player worth keeping around. For a front office trying to build depth and find value, the hit rate has been too thin to ignore.
The bigger issue may be less about the signings themselves than about what happened after the contracts were handed out. The pattern points to a possible disconnect between Spyteks talent evaluation and the coaching staffs willingness to invest time in unproven players, with Pete Carrolls preference for veterans he already trusted looming over the process. If the Raiders are going to make undrafted players matter, they may need a better alignment between who gets identified and who actually gets a real shot. [Read more 🡒]