Silver and Black Pride has made its first pass at the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2026 53-man roster, and the guesswork starts where camp always gets messy. Aidan O’Connell is in the backup mix at quarterback, but this is also the point where he can still be viewed as a trade candidate before the roster hardens after the preseason.
That matters now because the Raiders are days from their first preseason game of the 2026 NFL season against the Arizona Cardinals, and every snap will be fed back into the next version of the Raiders depth chart. The projection uses 25 players on offense, 25 on defense and three specialists, with Fernando Mendoza and O’Connell behind center, Mike Washington Jr., Connor Heyward and Dylan Laube in the backfield group, and Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor and Malik Benson at wide receiver.
The wideout group is where the math starts to tell the story. The prediction has Jack Bech, Dareke Young and E.J. Williams as backups and cuts Dont’e Thornton Jr., Chase Roberts, Shedrick Jackson, Phillip Dorsett II and Deven Thompkins, while also leaving room for the idea that Kubiak could carry only five receivers if he leans into 12 personnel. In that version, Mayer can move up as a starter. If he stays with 11 personnel, the room is tighter and the cuts get harder.
O’Connell’s place is just as unsettled. He is entering a contract year, which makes him more than a simple backup in a projection like this, and the article’s own logic leaves open a path where he stays on the roster, gets dealt, or becomes the odd man out if the preseason turns sharply in another direction. Mendoza is framed as the future behind center, Cousins is the bridge-gap starter, and that puts O’Connell in the middle of a decision that can change quickly once games begin.
The other squeeze is at running back and on the offensive line. Laube gets the edge for now because he can help on special teams and has the longest tenure in Las Vegas, but Hemby and Ogubowale are still in the fight for the last spot. On the line, Kolton Miller, Spencer Burford, Tyler Linderbaum, Jackson Powers-Johnson and DJ Glaze are projected to start, with Charles Grant, Caleb Rogers, Jordan Meredith and Trey Zuhn III backing them up. Dalton Wagner, Will Putnam and Atoni are listed as cuts, though Thomas has a clear edge because Runyon has been injured and has not been able to practice since.
There is nothing final about this roster yet. That is the point. The next prediction will come after each preseason game, and the first one will tell much more than this opening guess about who can hold a job, who can slide into a role, and whether O’Connell is still part of the Raiders’ long answer at quarterback or just a name that becomes available before camp ends.
