The Las Vegas Raiders may not necessarily prioritize winning a ton of games this season, as the guiding north star for the 2026 season should be establishing if No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza can be the quarterback who can eventually get this team turned around.
Mendoza will be able to lean on an elite tight end in Brock Bowers, but the lack of wide receiver talent is a noticeable issue the Raiders will need to overcome after choosing not to overpay for multiple top pass-catchers in free agency.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell believes that the biggest mistake the Raiders made in the offseason was not making a huge investment in the wide receiver room, as signing Jalen Nailor to a three-year contract stands out as the biggest move this team made in that area.
As great as Bowers is, Mendoza could be in for a rough ride with this surrounding cast.
ESPN rips Las Vegas Raiders for not investing in wide receivers
Surely a coach like Klint Kubiak, who had Justin Jefferson in Minnesota and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Seattle, knows the importance of having a game-breaking No. 1 wide receiver. Even if Bowers is going to catch 100 passes this season, he can't do it all from the tight end position as far as lifting up an entire passing offense is concerned.
Unless Nailor is JSN, things could be rough. Vegas might be hoping that two second-year playersin second-rounder Jack Bech and fourth-rounder Dont'e Thornton Jr., managed to take steps forward to mitigate the lack of activity.
This would be ideal, but Thornton still needs to be used in a very specific way, and Bech was considered a major disappointment for a player who was picked in the second round.
While there are plenty of veterans on the free agent market who would instantly start in Kubiak's base personnel, very few of them might be willing to join a team that has seemingly set itself up for a more earnest postseason charge in 2027.
Mendoza's pass-catchers are suspect, and even after adding the elite Tyler Linderbaum, parts of the offensive line have question marks.
Mendoza being as good as many expect him to be will help mitigate these issues, and the raiders have helped him out tremendously with moves like the Linderbaum signing, but Kubiak and Spytek are playing a ton of trust in players that need to take multiple steps forward for Mendoza to reach his apex in 2026.
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