The Las Vegas Raiders are about to officially kick off their 2024 season with their first football action coming on Saturday. They are due to play the Minnesota Vikings in their first preseason game. Of course, it won’t be a meaningful game in terms of records, or anything like that, but this game is important.

You want to get your starters their first football action of the year, getting acclimated into a new system, and getting to knock some of the rust off. But, you also want to see some of the other players get a chance to show why they deserve a shot on the 53-man roster.

Usually, teams will not play their most important players, like the starters, primarily the starting quarterback, or in this case whoever the starter is, and then Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams. Why would they play them, when that’s just another opportunity to get hurt in a game that doesn’t matter?

As we know, the Raiders will play their starters on Saturday.

“I expect all of our guys to play in the preseason,” Antonio Pierce said at the introductory presser to training camp in Costa Mesa, California.

The Raiders will play everyone in the preseason games, but how many games is the question. Now, that’s good for the fans, and it could have players ready to go when Week 1 hits, but also, they risk injury. As for the Vikings, you can expect that their starters to play at least a bit. But the biggest question all week has been who their quarterback will be.

The Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy No. 9 overall, and I’m sure they don’t want to see him sit on the bench during the preseason. So, what’s the plan for their rookie, and their veteran Sam Darnold, whom they signed in free agency?

According to the Vikings head coach, Kevin O’Connell says that Sam Darnold will start Saturday’s preseason opener before the team then turns to J.J. McCarthy. And, that’s fair. But, now this helps Antonio Pierce a bit more in terms of deciding how to do his rotations.

Now, he knows that he wants the starting defense up against Sam Darnold, because that likely will mean his starting defense will be up against a starting offense. This information, which I’m sure Pierce already had some sort of idea about, is very helpful in setting up how his game plan will be on Saturday for the guys trying to make the roster.