The Cardinals and Raiders are walking into the 2026 season with a lot of the same baggage, and that’s what makes their Week 17 meeting so interesting. Both teams are rebuilding, both have new offensive-minded head coaches from the Shanahan and Kubiak coaching tree, and both are trying to sort through quarterback questions while leaning on young offensive pieces that still need time to grow.
Las Vegas, at least on paper, has the cleaner setup. Arizona’s situation looks a lot like a version of what the Raiders have, only with some pieces that feel like knockoffs. That’s the broad view from a Silver and Black lens, and it’s why getting a read from Cardinals writer Michael Haney, formerly of Raising Zona, helps sharpen the picture.
Haney said Cardinals fans are “relatively optimistic” about Mike LaFleur leading the rebuild, pointing to his background with Sean McVay as a reason for belief. Even so, he made it clear that nobody in Arizona is expecting this thing to snap into place overnight. The roster, in his view, still isn’t ready to compete, and the quarterback situation only adds to that reality.
For now, Jacoby Brissett is the guy. Haney said Brissett will open the season as the starter, but if Arizona makes a change, he expects Carson Beck to be the next name to watch rather than Gardner Minshew. In his words, Beck “at least has some upside,” while Minshew is already a known commodity at this point in his career.
Beck could become a bigger factor as the season wears on. Haney said that if things go the way they’re expected to, Beck could be starting games down the stretch, with Arizona planning to draft a quarterback in 2027 but needing to find out what it has in Beck first. That makes Week 17 a potential snapshot of where the Cardinals are headed under center.
When asked about the offseason move that mattered most, Haney didn’t go with Jeremiyah Love. He pointed to LaFleur instead, saying the NFC West has “arguably the top three coaches in the NFL,” and Arizona has to keep pace.
There’s also a matchup the Raiders will want to circle. Haney said Maxx Crosby could “have a field day” against right tackle Elijah Wilkinson, noting that Arizona was expected to draft a right tackle but chose Love instead.
And while the Cardinals may not be ready as a whole, their young skill talent still stands out. Haney said those players, “if used correctly,” can be difficult for any team to handle, and he added that the Raiders’ secondary might have trouble keeping up.
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There is also the veteran route to consider, even if it is only in the realm of speculation for now. Justin Jefferson has been floated as a possible name to watch if Minnesotas situation pushes him toward change, and the idea of him landing in Las Vegas would instantly reshape the outlook for a receiver room that has been searching for a true alpha. For the Raiders, it is the kind of possibility that keeps the door open on a much bigger move than the one they are currently able to make. [Read more 🡒]
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The more Kubiak talked, the more he sounded like a coach determined to keep the room on a pure merit basis and avoid creating any extra layers of responsibility around it. Asked about mentorship and the challenges that come with moving into the head coaching role, he stayed broad, leaning on the scouting staff and the infrastructure around him rather than naming a specific blind spot, which leaves the Raiders with a familiar offseason question still hanging in the air: how this competition is supposed to unfold, and what kind of support system will actually shape it. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Fans May Need To Rethink Patrick Graham After This
Patrick Grahams run as the Raiders defensive coordinator is getting a fresh look now that he has moved on to a new opportunity in Pittsburgh. For Las Vegas fans, the debate around his tenure has always been a little more complicated than the raw results, because the defense was operating within a larger team-building approach that did not always match up with the kind of investment other contenders made on that side of the ball.
The Steelers are giving Graham a different kind of setup, one that comes with a more talented and more expensive defensive roster than he had in Las Vegas. That matters because it gives him a chance to show what his scheme can do with better pieces around it, and it also leaves Raiders fans wondering how much of the criticism he took here was really about coaching and how much was about the circumstances he inherited. [Read more 🡒]