Through the course of the 2026 NFL regular season, the league has seen countless backup quarterbacks come in and play. Whether that is coming in and starting games or relieving a starter during a blowout, there have been a lot of different quarterbacks to see the field in the front half of the season. That said, there are a few who are expected to take the reins that have yet to see much, if any, playing time so far.
Of course, we are talking about rookie quarterbacks. Now, it is unfair to say that there have not been any rookies to take over the job for whatever the reason may be. Jalon Daniels was mentioned in the backup quarterback tier rankings a couple of weeks ago, after all.
Not only Daniels, but Athan Kaliakmanis and Jack Strand saw playing time in the early portion of the 2026 campaign. That said, there are other, perhaps more prominent rookies that were expected to take over at some point this year who have not seen the field as we head into Week 8 of the NFL season. Today, we predict when some of the more well-known quarterbacks from this last draft class will take over the quarterback jobs for their teams.
Predicting when rookie quarterbacks will take over the starting job
Fernando Mendoza
In all fairness to Mendoza, he has seen the field early this year, but did not qualify for the backup tier rankings yet because he did not play an entire half of football. That said, this article is about when a quarterback could take over the starting job. The starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders, Kirk Cousins, has been phenomenal to begin the campaign, as he leads the league in passing touchdowns through seven weeks.
It is fair to say that Cousins is not the problem for the Raiders. However, there is a spark missing for the team, and it is evident in how flat Las Vegas begins games these days, finding themselves in big holes early (which is how Mendoza saw the field against the Patriots in the fourth quarter). So when could the rookie take over becomes the question.
Frankly, it feels like we are still a bit off from seeing Mendoza make his first start. It is not going to be this week going to the Jets, and the following four games are a gauntlet of the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns. However, the week after the Browns game is the bye week in Las Vegas, which feels like the perfect time to install a rookie backup quarterback into the starting lineup.
Prediction: Week 14
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