We don’t know if Fernando Mendoza will be starting at quarterback for the Raiders in Week 1 of the regular season, but we do know who the Raiders will be playing in the first overall pick’s potential debut.
The NFL’s schedule reveal on Thursday night shows that the Raiders will host the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. The game will be on Fox.
Mendoza will have to get the nod over Kirk Cousins in order to start for the Raiders. Offseason addition Malik Willis is expected to make his first appearance for the Dolphins. Both teams will definitely have head coaches making their offseason debut as Las Vegas hired Klint Kubiak in February and Miami hired Jeff Hafley in January.
Sunday will also feature a pair of divisional games in the late afternoon window. The Packers will visit the Vikings while the Commanders will be in Philadelphia to renew their acquaintance with the Eagles. The NFC North matchup will be on CBS while the NFC East clash will be broadcast by Fox.
The other late game on Sunday afternoon will see the Cardinals visiting the Chargers on CBS. Arizona could have Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew or rookie Carson Beck at quarterback for that contest.
The 1 p.m. ET games will send the Bills to Houston for a date with the Texans while the Browns go on the road against the Jaguars. The Colts will host the Ravens, the Saints will visit the Lions, the Buccaneers will travel to Cincinnati for Dexter Lawrence’s first game as a Bengal, and the Steelers will kick off the Mike McCarthy era — with or without Aaron Rodgers — at home against the Falcons.
Previous reports revealed that the Jets will be in Tennessee and that the Bears will head to Charlotte to face the Panthers. The Jets-Titans game will be on CBS along with the Bills-Texans, Ravens-Colts and Browns-Jaguars games. All the other 1 p.m. games will be on Fox.
The entire Week 1 slate will kick off on Wednesday, September 9 with a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch in Seattle on NBC. Thursday will bring a Netflix game between the 49ers and Rams in the NFL’s first game in Melbourne and Sunday night will find the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium to meet the Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Those games were all announced ahead of Thursday’s full schedule reveal, which was also the case for the ESPN Monday night game between the Broncos and Chiefs in Kansas City.
The NFL announced the matchups for its first Thanksgiving Eve game and all three Thanksgiving games ahead of Thursday night’s schedule reveal, so the only thing left to announce for the three-day holiday spread of games was the Black Friday matchup.
That game will feature the Broncos visiting the Steelers in a game that will start at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
It will be the first time that either franchise has played a Black Friday game. The NFL first held a game on the day after Thanksgiving in 2023 and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the league is considering ways to add a second game.
That is what they’ve done with the Thanksgiving Eve game. It will involve the Packers visiting the Rams on Wednesday night in a game broadcast by Netflix.
Thanksgiving’s schedule will start in Detroit as usual. The Lions will host the Bears at 1 p.m. ET on CBS and the Eagles will visit the Cowboys on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET. Thursday’s action will conclude with the Chiefs in Buffalo to face the Bills at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.
One of the most highly anticipated games of the season will take place in Week 7, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
That’s when the Seahawks will host Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Mahomes is expected to be back by then after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee on Dec. 15.
The Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champions, but Mahomes has won three titles.
The Seahawks last faced the Chiefs in 2022 at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City last traveled to Seattle in 2018 for a game the Seahawks won 38-31 on Sunday Night Football.
Cornerback Nazeeh Johnson is visiting another NFC East team as he looks for a place to play in 2026.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Johnson is visiting with the Giants on Thursday. Johnson visited with the Eagles last week.
Johnson was a 2022 seventh-round pick in Kansas City and has spent the last four seasons with the Chiefs. He was limited to two late-season games last year after injuring his shoulder in the preseason and he missed all of 2023 with a torn ACL.
When healthy, Johnson had 66 tackles and a sack in 29 regular season games. He also has eight tackles in the postseason.
The Chiefs’ first visit to the Bills’ new stadium will reportedly close out the NFL’s Thanksgiving slate of games.
Per NFL reporter Jordan Schultz, the Chiefs will be at the new Highmark Stadium on Thursday night in Week 12. The primetime game will be televised by NBC.
The two teams have met at least once per season since the start of the 2020 season. The Bills are 5-1 in the regular season matchups, but the Chiefs are 4-0 in their playoff confrontations.
With the game set for late November, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s recovery from a torn ACL should no longer be an issue. There will undoubtedly be other injury issues that impact who will be on hand for the latest chapter in the rivalry headed by Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen, but both teams will hope they aren’t significant enough to rob the game of its usual luster.
