Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said Tuesday that Mendoza will play in Thursday's preseason opener against Arizona and may even get a few snaps with the starting offensive line, Ryan McFadden of ESPN.com reports.
It sounds like Kirk Cousins will make the start, but Mendoza could enter the game fairly early on, and he's expected to play a lot this preseason (if not necessarily Thursday night). Kubiak hasn't announced his Week 1 starter, but Cousins has been treated as the starter throughout training camp by all accounts.