49ers-Raiders Preseason Finale: Every Roster Bubble Battle Still Unresolved Before Cutdown Day

Roster cuts are three days away, and for a long list of San Francisco 49ers and Las Vegas Raiders players, Thursday night at Allegiant Stadium is the last chance to make a case on tape. Both clubs sit at 1-1 in the preseason heading into this Week 3 finale, which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and will air only on local television — KPIX CBS 5 in the Bay Area and FOX5 Las Vegas in the desert, with NFL+ carrying it nationally for out-of-market fans.

Unlike the first two weeks of August, this game is not about starters. Brock Purdy will not play for San Francisco, and neither will most of the Raiders’ established veterans on defense. Instead, the storylines belong to the players clinging to roster spots 48 through 53, along with a couple of legitimate position battles still up for grabs at the top of each depth chart.

Las Vegas Still Hasn’t Named a Starting Quarterback

The most notable open competition left anywhere in the league belongs to the Raiders. Kirk Cousins has taken the bulk of first-team reps and is the expected Week 1 starter, but Klint Kubiak has declined to make it official, saying he wants competition alive at every position. Rookie Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick, has had an up-and-down camp, following a promising preseason opener with a rockier Week 2 outing against Houston. Aidan O’Connell, meanwhile, led a 19-0 second-half surge in that same Houston game, and with some outside projections suggesting Las Vegas keeps only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, Thursday could decide whether O’Connell has a job in Week 1 or is watching from home.

San Francisco’s quarterback situation is a bit more settled at the top, with Mac Jones long ago secured as Purdy’s backup, but the QB3 job remains live between Kurtis Rourke and Adrian Martinez. Rourke, a seventh-round pick in 2025 who missed all of last year rehabbing a torn ACL, has generally outplayed Martinez in limited preseason snaps, completing roughly 68% of his throws. A rib injury has him questionable for Thursday, which is worth watching given how much this final audition matters for the depth chart.

The Defensive Bubble Battles to Watch

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have a legitimate scrap at cornerback opposite starter Eric Stokes. Darien Porter, a 2025 third-round pick, appears to have separated himself from rookie Hezekiah Masses and fellow rookie Jermod McCoy after taking the bulk of first-team reps in practice and getting pulled early from last week’s game — usually a sign a coaching staff already trusts a player’s spot. Cornerback depth further down the roster is murkier, with Greedy Vance reportedly boosting his stock with a strong recent showing.

San Francisco has its own unresolved spots. The starting left guard job still hasn’t been decided, and the second safety role next to Ji’Ayir Brown remains genuinely open. Malik Mustapha was expected to compete there but has been slowed by a hamstring injury, letting Marques Sigle take the lead in the meantime. Coach Kyle Shanahan has been blunt about how unsettled things remain, noting the roster picture stays fluid all the way through cutdown day, compounded by more than 20 players dealing with some form of injury.

Prediction and Best Bet

Expect backups and roster hopefuls to dominate the box score more than any household name. Las Vegas has the deeper, more battle-tested group of backup quarterbacks getting real reps, and that edge should carry into a tight, low-scoring finish at home.

• Prediction: Raiders 23, 49ers 20
• Best Bet: Raiders on the moneyline

With continuity on offense and a cornerback rotation that has already shown it can hold up, Las Vegas is the more stable roster on the night, even in a game where neither team’s true first string sees the field.