The 2019 NFL season is five months away, but the preseason kicks off in August, and the team announced the slate of preseason games on Tuesday.
The 2019 Oakland Raiders should be a much better team than the one the organization put on the field in 2018, when they won only four games. New general manager Mike Mayock has been very active in free agency this offseason, bringing in talent on both sides of the ball, and that should make for huge excitement entering what could be the team’s final year in Oakland.
While we know who the Raiders will play in 2019, and where, the 2019 regular season schedule is not out yet. However, we now know who the Raiders will be playing in the preseason, and what the schedule will look like, as it was announced earlier today.
The team’s official site posted their schedule on Tuesday.
In Week 1, Oakland will kick off their preseason schedule at home against the Los Angeles Rams, playing them for the second preseason in a row. In fact, the Raiders opened up their 2018 regular season campaign against the Rams, who ended their season in the Super Bowl.
Week 2 will bring a national televised game against the Arizona Cardinals, which could be the Raiders first look at Kyler Murray. The Raiders have been rumored to be trading up for Murray, but that is not going to happen, as Derek Carr is firmly entrenched as the team’s franchise quarterback.
While they do not know where they are playing the Green Bay Packers, they do know they will face off against Aaron Rodgers in Week 3 of the preseason. That will be a good test for the Raiders secondary, as Week 3 is the last week the starters see extended action, and he is one of the better signal-callers in football.
Finally, Oakland will have their last dress rehearsal before the regular season against the Seattle Seahawks on the road, another team they played in the preseason last year. In fact, outside of Arizona, this is the same group of teams they played in 2018, as the Cards replace the Detroit Lions from last year’s schedule.
There are bigger expectations for this Raiders team as they enter year two with Jon Gruden back on the sidelines, and they have really improved the roster this offseason. The 2019 NFL Draft is only a few weeks away, and holding three first round picks, expect the Raiders to dominate the narrative going in.