The Las Vegas Raiders have the No. 1 overall pick in Fernando Mendoza and are one of the big brands in the NFL. However, even that wasn’t enough for the Silver and Black to secure at least one primetime game in the upcoming 2026 season.
While the Raiders could be flexed into primetime, as things stand, they won’t be a standalone game with all of the eyes on them. As a result of this decision from the NFL, FOX Sports Radio’s Rob Parker believes this is an indictment of Mendoza.
Moreover, Parker predicts that the Raiders QB will be a bust, given that the NFL has no belief in Mendoza to put him in primetime.
“Fernando Mendoza will be a bust,” Parker said on the May 15 edition of “The Odd Couple.” “Don’t even bother watching. Tom Brady doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s ruined the storied franchise that is the Raiders. Don’t waste your time.
“How in the world could the NFL make a schedule and not have at least one game where we could see the first overall pick on a national level?
“It speaks volumes. It tells you they don’t think anything’s going on. One game? We can’t see Fernando Mendoza in one game? I mean, seriously, the NFL is telegraphing it. They don’t think he’s anything special.”
Rob Parker Doesn’t Hold Back on Fernando Mendoza
Parker also noted that he’s buying into the notion that if there were other top QBs available in the draft, Mendoza would’ve been far down the list of signal-callers that could go first overall.
“This now takes me back to all those scouts who said if this was a different draft with other quarterbacks, he might be the fifth- or sixth-quarterback drafted. It was a weak quarterback class. That’s how he leapfrogged to No. 1.
“And here we are. The Raiders, I know they haven’t done anything since Moby-Dick was a guppy, and it’s been a long time, but they have a rabid fan base. Raiders Nation is real.“
Despite what Parker says, the NFL would probably like to showcase the No. 1 pick, but with Kirk Cousins in the fold, there’s no guarantee that Mendoza would be playing that game.
Ex-Raiders OL Lincoln Kennedy Gets Blunt on NFL Decision
Furthermore, last season the league had the Raiders in three primetime games and got burned with how the team performed. As a result, former Raiders offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy isn’t surprised by the NFL’s decision.
“You won three games last year,“ Kennedy said on the May 15 edition of the “Raiders Squad Show.” “What do you expect? The TV revenue is all about generating hype around teams that deserve it.
“When the Raiders had primetime games last year, they didn’t look good. Remember the Cowboys game? Remember the Chargers game? They didn’t look good. Nobody wants to see that.”
The Raiders and Mendoza will need to perform this upcoming 2026 season to either get flexed into one of those primetime games or make the case that they deserve a primetime game next year. The brand and fanbase will be there from the marketing aspect; it’s all about the play on the field.
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