The Las Vegas Raiders are going with Kirk Cousins to open the season, and that decision doesn’t appear to have moved the betting market much at all.
Cousins, the veteran quarterback the Raiders brought in during the offseason, has been named the Week 1 starter over No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. The move had been widely expected, so the team’s Week 1 odds and its major futures stayed put after the announcement.
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak made the case plainly when asked about the choice: “He played really good football. I’m really happy with all three of our quarterbacks. Kirk’s had a really good offseason, very good camp and he's earned it.”
For now, Cousins gives Las Vegas the steadier option. Mendoza, who still carries +700 odds to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, remains positioned to take over later, but he won’t get a soft landing in his first assignment. The Raiders open at Miami, and the matchup is no gift.
Even with Cousins under center, the Raiders are still viewed as a long shot. They’re currently +15000 to win the Super Bowl, which puts them at the fifth-worst price in the league. They’re also heavy underdogs to win the AFC West or make the playoffs.
That’s a tough spot in a division that includes two playoff teams from last season in Denver and Los Angeles, plus a Kansas City team that has Patrick Mahomes ready to go again in Week 1.
The last six quarterbacks taken No. 1 overall had started on opening day, but Mendoza will break that streak. It doesn’t change the bigger picture, though. This has been the plan for the Raiders from the start, and Mendoza’s turn is expected to come later rather than sooner.
Cousins’ track record offers a little reassurance, at least in the short term. In 2025, he started eight games for Atlanta while Michael Penix Jr. was injured and helped the Falcons go 5-3 in those starts. He completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 1,721 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Still, the version of Cousins the Raiders are getting is not the same one from before the ruptured Achilles he suffered in 2023. To push Las Vegas into the playoff picture, he would need one of the best seasons of his career.
So the opening-day job belongs to Cousins. Mendoza’s moment is coming. Just not in Week 1.
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Rick Dennison arrives as the new offensive line coach for 2026, with the expectation that he can bring cleaner fundamentals and better technique to a unit that badly needed both. The overhaul did not stop there, either, as the Raiders also upgraded at quarterbacks coach by hiring Mike Sullivan, whose long NFL background and prior working relationship with offensive coordinator Kubiak should give the staff more continuity as it tries to stabilize the offense. [Read more 🡒]