Preseason football might not count for much, but the first weekend of full exhibition ball still hands you one thing the regular season rarely does, which is an unhurried look at players nobody has scouted against live NFL competition yet. Preseason Week 1 gave us plenty of that, and six names in particular are worth holding onto.
Fernando Mendoza, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
Las Vegas has spent the better part of a decade searching for a quarterback to believe in, cycling through veterans and stopgaps and false dawns, so the sight of the No. 1 overall pick threading the ball around Allegiant Stadium meant more to that fanbase than the box score suggests.
Mendoza went 10 of 16 for 97 yards and a touchdown to Jack Bech across the best part of three quarters, and while it came against an Arizona side projected to be among the league’s weaker outfits, and while Kirk Cousins remains the named starter under Klint Kubiak, the point stands. This is the first Raiders quarterback in years that supporters can watch and genuinely feel something other than resignation.
Ty Simpson, QB, Los Angeles Rams
The pick at No. 13 was called a reach on the night, and taking a passer that early with Matthew Stafford still in the building read as a puzzle to plenty of people, yet Simpson answered the doubt in the cleanest way available to a rookie.
Simpson finished 21 of 25 for 190 yards, two touchdowns, both to fellow rookie Dean Connors, and no interceptions in the Rams’ 20-12 win over Kansas City, a stat line that had a fair few analysts calling it the best rookie quarterback debut of the entire week. Yes, it was against backups, and yes, the Rams want him nowhere near the field in a meaningful game this year, but the accuracy and the rhythm were exactly what Sean McVay asked to see. The future looks bright in LA.
Drew Allar, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Allar arrived in Pittsburgh carrying the same book scouts wrote on him at Penn State, all the physical tools you could want paired with question marks over accuracy and reading the field, so a debut this composed was not a given. He completed 10 of 13 for 153 yards, threw two touchdowns and ran in a third, and posted a passer rating north of 154 in the 28-9 win over Green Bay, the highlight being a 74-yard strike to Kaden Wetjen.
As a third-round pick he was never really fighting to make the roster, so frame this correctly: the battle is up the depth chart, behind Aaron Rodgers and alongside Mason Rudolph and Will Howard, and on this evidence Allar has given himself a genuine seat at that table. Mike McCarthy said the Steelers felt they were getting a first-round pick, and for one night at least, that looked about right.
De’Zhaun Stribling, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Few picks in April drew more raised eyebrows than San Francisco taking the Ole Miss receiver at No. 33, a player who never topped 1,000 yards in a college season, and the value questions followed him right up to kickoff. Then he caught seven of eight targets for 63 yards, all of it in the first half against Tennessee, becoming only the second receiver in a decade to haul in seven passes inside the opening 20 minutes of a preseason game.
The signature moment was a 32-yard back-shoulder grab down the right sideline, climbing over the defender to take it at its highest point, the kind of contested catch that turns a polarising draft slot into a settled argument. Kyle Shanahan liked the physicality, Trent Williams was gushing on the sideline, and Stribling suddenly looks like a real piece.
Caden Curry, DE, Indianapolis Colts
A sixth-round flier out of Ohio State, playing his first professional football for his hometown team, Curry was the sort of name you would forgive yourself for glossing over on the depth chart, right up until he stuffed the stat sheet in the 13-13 tie with New England.
Five tackles, a sack won with a crossover move from an interior alignment, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and two passes batted down at the line is a serious night’s work for anyone, let alone a Day 3 rookie. Shane Steichen singled him out afterwards, and on a Colts front rebuilding its identity, that relentless motor is exactly the sort of cheap, high-effort addition a defence wants to find in the late rounds.
Ayden Garnes, CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
For an undrafted rookie signed in May, every preseason snap is an audition, and Garnes delivered the one play guaranteed to make a coaching staff sit up, stepping in front of a Bailey Zappe pass and taking it 47 yards the other way for the first pick-six of the 2026 preseason.
Tampa Bay beat the Jets 24-16, Garnes added three tackles alongside the score, and with the Buccaneers thin on dependable cornerback depth, the timing could hardly be better for a player trying to talk his way onto the 53. Todd Bowles was pleased with the coverage while noting there is work still to do before Garnes becomes a lock, which is fair, but a fringe corner rarely gets a louder opening statement than this.