
NFL told the Jets, Raiders, Titans, Dolphins and Cardinals what they think of rebuilds. And it's not good.
NFL's Disapproval: Jets, Raiders, Titans, Dolphins, and Cardinals Shut Out of Prime-Time Games
The Raiders' 2026 season schedule has been released, and predictions for their game outcomes are underway. The team is expected to start strong with a win against the Dolphins in Week 1.
The Raiders 2026 season schedule is out. And we waste no time going through Las Vegas's slate of matchups to make a season record prediction. So, let's jump into it.
It’s tank time in Miami. The team that won the ‘Tank for Tua’ sweepstakes years ago, has now moved on from Tua and is looking like they are making a play for one of the top QBs entering the 2027 NFL Draft. The Raiders will gladly help them get started on their quest.
It’s very often the injury bug that trips up the Chargers every season. So, facing them in week two would figure to have them still pretty healthy.
There is a lot of optimism surrounding the Saints after winning for of their last five games behind 2025 second round pick QB Tyler Shough. And the Saints got Shough a nice weapon in the draft in Jordyn Tyson. This is also one of three matchups this season pitting Klint Kubiak against one of his former teams. The weakest of the three.
The article provides game-by-game predictions for the Raiders' 2026 season, starting with a win against the Dolphins.
The Raiders will face the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 of the 2026 season.
The article outlines the Raiders' schedule and analyzes key matchups throughout the 2026 season.
The Dolphins are in a rebuilding phase, having moved on from Tua and looking to draft a top quarterback for the 2027 NFL Draft.

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It was a down season for the Chiefs. But there’s every reason to believe they will bounce back quickly. They still have Patrick Mahomes behind center and Andy Reid on the sideline.
The Patriots made the Super Bowl last year despite coming into the playoffs with one of the easiest schedules, making them look like paper tigers. Then the Seahawks treated them like one. Now this whole Mike Vrabel scandal is about as much of a distraction as they come. It is not far-fetched to suggest the Pats are looking at a tumble.
Buffalo has been a double-digit winning playoff team each of the past seven seasons, winning the AFC East six of those years. The Raiders have a ways to go to compete with the talent on this team.
The Rams are loading up again, hoping to get one more shot at the Lombardi Trophy while Matt Stafford is still around. And it’s possible this could be their last shot. The 38-year-old is coming off an incredible season, but his contract is up after this year. He is still playing at an extremely high level and the Rams will once again be among the league’s top teams.
While the Raiders moved on to land their franchise QB in the draft, the Jets took their old rubbish. New York signed Geno Smith to be their starting QB as they hope he can give them what he gave the Raiders – the number one pick in the draft.
The Raiders return to the Bay Area to face their old area rivals. The same 49ers team that made the playoffs despite being without Brock Purdy for half the season and the Super Bowl champion Seahawks were the only team to beat them over the second half of the season and the playoffs.
The reigning Super Bowl champs. I’d expect there to be some gamesmanship with new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak having some inside knowledge of the weaknesses and tendencies of his former team. But that’s a two-way street. And the Seahawks are a far more talented team. It should be a pretty good game, but that talent will be the difference.
The Raiders follow up facing the reigning Super Bowl champs with the reigning AFC top seed. Making three straight games against
Nothing like facing the Brownies to cure what ails you. Cleveland has been stuck with Deshaun Watson for four years, ever since they made the all-time bonehead decision to give him a fully guaranteed contract. And who, in one of his last starts in 2024, was so bad he single-handedly forced a win upon the otherwise horrible Raiders. Despite how epicly bad Watson has been, the Browns are currently saying he is the starter over former fifth round pick Shedeur Sanders. That’s the guy who didn’t approach 60% completions (56.6%) last season and had more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (seven). Good luck with all that.
The Chargers pretty much pummeled the Raiders in both meetings last season. The Raiders will put up more of a fight this season, but the Chargers are still too strong.
Three weeks of home cooking for the Raiders and they are ready to face their bitter rivals. The Broncos will undoubtedly be favored against the Raiders in both games, but this is the Wild (AFC) West. They managed just ten points against a much worse Raiders team last season, but won on the strength of their defense combined with the ineptitude of the Raiders offense.
Coming off the big win over the Broncos, this might be what they call a trap game. The Raiders had the top pick in this year’s draft. But it was the Titans who were in that position the year before. They selected Cam Ward. While Ward had a rough rookie season, that’s pretty common. Just like the Bears the year before, and we all saw the Bears go from being one of the worst teams in football to a playoff team in Caleb Williams’s second season.
Switching from three straight games against teams with their QB situation figured out, they face one in quarterback hell. The Cardinals are rolling with the trio of Jacoby Brissett, rookie Carson Beck, and former Raiders QB Gardner Minshew. Hard to trust the winner of that battle isn’t just the lesser of the evils. And that is probably just what the Cards want as they will surely be in full on tank mode.
Last season the Chiefs “lost” to the Raiders in the finale because they had packed it in. What starters who weren’t injured were benched as the Chiefs had nothing to play for except possibly to get a higher draft pick while trying to cause their division rival to get a lower one. They will undoubtedly have plenty to play for this time around and do well to protect their house, especially from the Raiders.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Las Vegas Raiders schedule: Game-by-game predictions for 2026 season