The Las Vegas Raiders‘ offseason hum is getting louder and more complicated. As roster decisions tighten, two questions are driving the conversation: how will the offensive line shape up? Who’ll be the other quarterback besides Fernando Mendoza?
From protection concerns to depth-chart intrigue, the answers will shape far more than preseason chatter. Here’s a quick reset on the most pressing Raiders storylines as the team edges closer to defining its identity for the 2026 season.
What will happen with the offensive line?
Four weeks from the 2026 NFL Draft, the Raiders are conducting due diligence on a position group that could define the franchise’s short-term ceiling.
Washington offensive lineman Carver Willis confirmed a virtual meeting with the Raiders and their offensive line coaches, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins among teams who have connected with him during the pre-draft process.
The evaluation is understandable. Willis brings genuine versatility to the table, with 10 starts at left tackle in 2025 after transferring from Kansas State, where he logged significant time at right tackle. That two-sided experience matters. So does the feedback he’s absorbing from teams.
“Some teams think I’m capable of backing up all five positions,” Willis said. “Some teams see me as a center. Others see me as a guard.”
The market is speaking clearly…
Willis measured a 32.5-inch arm length at the combine, below the threshold most evaluators want in a starting-caliber tackle. The interior is likely his future. For Las Vegas, that reality aligns with a specific organizational need: credible, multi-position depth behind a rebuilt starting unit.
The Raiders made their most consequential offensive line move in free agency, signing center Tyler Linderbaum to a record contract. That stabilizes the middle. What surrounds Linderbaum remains unsettled, though the architecture is forming.
Related: 5 Second Round Picks That Instantly Improve The Raiders
Jackson Powers-Johnson projects as a starter at one guard spot. The other is unresolved. Sophomore Caleb Rogers, a 98th overall pick last year, is the most compelling internal candidate, but the Raiders won’t simply hand him the role. Under new head coach Klint Kubiak and offensive line coach Rick Dennison, Rogers must earn it. His 284 snaps at right guard last season produced a 59.6 Pro Football Focus grade, serviceable but not convincing.
Veteran guard Spencer Burford offers a built-in safety valve, reinforced by his familiarity with Kubiak from their time with the San Francisco 49ers. Jordan Meredith, who started at center in 2025, remains part of the equation, but this is less about shuffling pieces and more about internal development. The mandate is clear: protect Mendoza and avoid placing a franchise quarterback behind an unsettled line.
That urgency brings the focus back to Willis. At a mid-to-late-round cost, he profiles as a flexible depth piece capable of handling multiple roles without requiring a starting job. The pre-draft process is about optionality—gathering intel, building contingencies, and reacting to the board. The Raiders understand their offensive line reality; now they’re deciding who helps stabilize it.
Do the Raiders bring in a big-name QB?
The Raiders are preparing to select Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick. Everything that follows that decision, including the quarterback room they build around him, flows from one central question: who steadies the ship while the rookie finds his footing?
Kirk Cousins has emerged as the leading candidate for that veteran role. The prerequisites are clear. Whoever the Raiders sign must understand the organizational trajectory, accept a defined window of relevance and surrender the starting job to Mendoza without friction when the moment arrives. That’s not a minor ask. It’s a personality and professionalism test as much as a football one.
Those prerequisites do real filtering work. They eliminate options before the Raiders even make a call.
Aaron Rodgers is one of them…
Jason La Canfora of Sports Boom recently surfaced Rodgers as a theoretical Las Vegas option, citing an NFL executive who sized up the veteran quarterback’s dwindling market. The framing was blunt.
“He either goes back to Pittsburgh,” the executive said. “Or maybe he tries to get something done with Tom Brady in Las Vegas, or he hangs it up. It’s Pittsburgh or nothing, how I see it.”
The Raiders’ name appearing in that sentence says more about Rodgers’ limited market than it does about any genuine Las Vegas interest. It’s a break-glass framing, not a legitimate evaluation.
Here’s the analytical problem. Rodgers has been explicit about wanting to start. A backup role or mentorship arrangement is not something he’s seeking and likely not something he’d accept. The executive’s own read confirms it. Pittsburgh represents his last realistic path to a starting job. If that door closes, retirement becomes a more plausible outcome than signing somewhere to tutor a rookie.
More: The AFC West Is Getting Older; Meanwhile, The Raiders…
From the Raiders’ perspective, the fit disintegrates on contact. Both general manager John Spytek and Kubiak need a veteran who subordinates his ego to the franchise’s long-term plan. Rodgers’ entire professional posture in recent years has run counter to that. The locker room dynamics alone would be a legitimate organizational concern.
There’s also a practical timeline issue. Mendoza is almost certainly starting by midseason, if not sooner. Any veteran assigned to that room needs to be emotionally prepared for a short runway. Rodgers has never operated in that context, not by choice and not comfortably by design.
Linking the Raiders to Rodgers creates buzz but collapses under scrutiny; the idea says more about his limited market than Las Vegas’ intent. Cousins, despite injury concerns, offers a more practical fit—adaptable, structured, and aligned with what Kubiak wants to build. He’s not a perfect solution, but he’s a viable one. The reality is simple: Mendoza is the story and everything else is noise.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images