Raiders Top 5 best offseason moves of 2026
· Yahoo Sports
It's been an offseason of change for the Las Vegas Raiders. Mostly, as you might expect for a team that finished 3-14 last season, it's been an offseason of attempted improvement.
There's a lot of reasons to believe the moves the Raiders made over the past few months will yield positive results. Some stand out more than others. We have set about pinpointing the five best moves.
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5. Draft QB Fernando Mendoza
Just because it was the most no-brainer move by any team this offseason, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be considered a big move. No pick in this draft will mean more for their respective franchise than Mendoza to the Raiders. Whether that’s as an immediate starter or as the future franchise QB. Easily the most celebrated pick the Raiders have made in more than a decade, and possibly this millennium.
4. Sign QB Kirk Cousins
This signing seemed so good I almost felt silly mentioning it in the leadup to free agency. The QB free agent class was pretty pathetic, with Cousins as far and away the top option out there. And with the Raiders a lock to take Mendoza atop the draft, it just seemed like a pipe dream the Raiders would land Cousins. Either because other teams would go harder after him or he would prefer to join a team with a vacancy at the quarterback spot that would ensure he was the starter.
Yet somehow Las Vegas landed Cousins and he comes in as the perfect proven veteran to share a QB room with their young future franchise QB. Someone who is capable for starting right now, but if he doesn’t, will still be an asset to the team and help Mendoza properly prepare for his career. Even if the Raiders are not asking Cousins to mentor Mendoza, but rather compete with him for the job.
3. Re-sign CB Eric Stokes
This offseason, the Raiders had exactly one free agent who we deemed a high priority to re-sign. That was Stokes. He was brought in on a buy-low one-year deal last offseason and proved he was worthy of it and more. The former first round pick had a bounce back year while staying healthy for consecutive seasons, thus earning a long term deal. He will return as the unquestioned top cornerback for this Raiders team next season.
2. Sign C Tyler Linderbaum
Knowing they were going to use the number one overall pick on QB Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders made sure that he entered the building with a Pro Bowl center snapping him the ball. They blew every other possible offer out of the water, offering Linderbaum well above the highest paid center in the league money to ensure they got him. The money be damned, the Raiders had it to spend and used it to get their guy to pair with their franchise QB for years to come.
1. Hire Klint Kubiak as head coach
The Raiders landed the top head coaching candidate this cycle. Something I am quite sure I’ve never seen come close to accomplishing in the 17 years I’ve been covering them. Kubiak was credited as the brains behind the Seahawks’ rise to being one of the best offenses in the NFL and Sam Darnold becoming a Super Bowl winning QB in his first season in Seattle. The Raiders were patient, waiting for the Seahawks to complete their journey to the Lombardi and Kubiak literally said on the field after the game was over that he was taking the Raiders job.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders Top 5 best offseason moves of 2026