On Friday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Las Vegas Raiders will release quarterback Geno Smith unless they can trade him before the NFL‘s new league year starts on March 11 at 4 p.m. EST.
Last March, the Seattle Seahawks traded Smith, 35, to Las Vegas in exchange for a third-round pick. Smith’s one-year stint in Las Vegas could not have gone any worse. He led the league in interceptions (17) and sacks taken (55) across 15 starts for the 3-14 Raiders. Smith stood absolutely no chance behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines, but his performance put the Raiders in a position to draft his replacement at No. 1 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23.
“He still is owed $18.5 million guaranteed from Las Vegas in 2026,” Schefter wrote. “But the Raiders are clearing the deck at quarterback for the expected selection of No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza.”
It would be an all-time stunner if the Raiders don’t take Mendoza, the Heisman-winning quarterback who just led the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship. But, assuming Mendoza lands in Las Vegas, it is not a guarantee that he’ll be the Raiders’ starting quarterback.
“If the Raiders continue to lean toward drafting Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in April's draft, their preference is to not start him immediately,” The Athletic‘s Dianni Russini reported on Friday morning. “Look for Las Vegas to bring a veteran QB in free agency.”
In late February, USA Today‘s Joe Rivera connected the Raiders to 37-year-old quarterback Kirk Cousins, who will be released by Atlanta at the start of the new league year.
“New Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak and Cousins worked together in Minnesota, as Kubiak operated as the team’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator between 2019 and 2021,” Rivera wrote. “There would probably be few better to take the reins and be a voice in the quarterback room to a young, potential franchise passer than Cousins, who seemingly worked very well alongside Michael Penix in Atlanta.”
At last week’s 2026 NFL Combine, Kubiak told reporters the Raiders were “looking at all options” regarding the quarterback position. Elsewhere at the Combine, Mendoza told reporters he had a “fantastic” interview with the Raiders and considered what it would be like to be mentored by seven-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, a minority owner of the Raiders.
“That opportunity would be fantastic,” Mendoza said. “Tom Brady, I believe, is the greatest quarterback of all time by a wide margin and to be able to have the opportunity to be mentored by him, it would mean so much. And especially to learn, and I’m all about learning. So from day one, I got to learn a lot. It’s going to be a long journey. And to have - potentially - have a mentor like that, it’d be pretty impressive and pretty meaningful.”
The Raiders used their last two first-round picks on running back Ashton Jeanty (No. 6 overall in 2025), who was the Heisman runner-up, and All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers (No. 13 overall in 2024).
2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.