NFL preseason 2022: Which Vikings-Raiders players will play or not play in Week 1?

Last week, football returned as the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars face off in the Hall of Fame game. This week, the rest of the teams will make their preseason debut. The Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders will face off Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.

It will be interesting to see who plays for both teams. Many coaches and even players have given different opinions on whether or not guys should play in the preseason and how much. I think it would be best for starters to play at least one game, just so Week 1 isn't completely different for them. Below we take a look at whether or not guys will play Sunday.

Quarterbacks

With Kirk Cousins not playing after testing positive for COVID-19, this will be a tryout for QB2 between Kellen Mond and Sean Mannion. It has been reported that Mond and Mannion are co-second string quarterbacks.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels has not yet reported whether or not starters will be playing. Derek Carr didn't play in the Hall of Fame game, but he could play one or two series' in this game. If not, we will once again see a ton of Jarrett Stidham and Nick Mullens.

Running Backs

It looks Dalvin Cook will be out of this game, but Alexander Mattison should play a few series'. Aside from Mattison, Kene Nwangwu and Ty Chandler should get a ton of carries.

It was a big surprise seeing Josh Jacobs play in the Hall of Fame game, but McDaniels tried to say it was just to get him normal live reps. I think the big running back to watch for is Zamir White. The coaching staff has raved about him so far and I would expect him to get a good amount of carries.

Wide Receivers

I would expect Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen to sit out from this game. But I expect K.J. Osborn to play a few series' as he could take a step this season.

It's hard to tell what the Raiders will do with their wide receivers tonight. My guess would be that they give some of their starting wide receivers a few snaps. Just because they didn't play last week. But if they don't play, look for Demarcus Robinson and Tyron Johnson to get an increased amount of snaps.

Tight Ends

Irv Smith is dealing with an injured finger, so he definitely won't be playing. Johnny Mundt and Ben Ellefson will continue to battle it out for the TE2 spot.

I would expect to see Foster Moreau for the Raiders as I'm not sure what's going on with Darren Waller. Nick Bowers and Jesper Horsted will get some snaps throughout the majority of the game as well.

  
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