Raiders-Cardinals preseason Week 1: 5 things to watch

Posted by Admin August 12, 2026 NFL

The Las Vegas Raiders start the 2026 preseason Thursday when they host the Arizona Cardinals at Allegiant Stadium. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. PT.

Here are five things to watch:

The quarterbacks:

Itt remains to be seen how much we see of Kirk Cousins, Fernando Mendoza and Aidan O’Connell individually. But we should see plenty of Mendoza, the No. 1 overall draft pick. His development will be the story of the preseason whether he’s truly in the mix to start early in the season or not.

The coaching staff:

This will be Klint Kubiak’s first ever game as a head coach. Yes, it’s just the preseason, but it will be interesting to see how the operation is run in this game. You can tell about of way a team is run even in the preseason. We show big flaws from the past two regimes in the past two preseasons. We’re looking for a smoother showing by Kubiak and his staff.

The rookies:

Mendoza may be the headliner, but he’s far from the only rookie who is creating excitement this summer. Let’s see how the entire rookie class performs including offensive lineman Trey Zuhn, running back Mike Washington, safety Treydan Stukes and cornerbacks Zeke Masses and Jermod McCoy, if he plays.

The offensive line:

We may not see many players on the first unit play in this game. but we want to see a better overall showing than last year. The Raiders’ offensive line was a root of a lot of their problems in 2o25. Improvement is expected under new offensive line coach Rick Dennison. Let’s see it in this game.

Health:

This is the biggest key of the preseason. No injuries, no injuries, no injuries.