The Las Vegas Raiders drafted Mike Washington Jr. in the fourth round of the 2026 draft. This shows the Raiders have a vision for playing smash-mouth football with a mix of Washington Jr. and Ashton Jeanty.
Washington Jr. comes from a system at Arkansas that was different from Klint Kubiak’s. At Arkansas, Washington Jr. ran a gap scheme primarily, whereas Kubiak prefers a wide zone scheme. The question became what plan would best maximize Washington Jr.’s talents at the next level.
The first preseason
game of 2026 gave fans a taste of what it could look like when Washington Jr. is the running back. He finished with 63 yards on six carries with an explosive 53-yard run in the second quarter.
Kubiak’s plan is to get Washington Jr. in space. Of the six carries, three were wide zone or a toss play. An example is below in the 2nd quarter. Raiders run an outside zone play to help get him in space to the outside. Washington Jr. does a good job reading and getting outside with patience, allowing blocks to develop, and gets 4 yards.
All the other runs were gap scheme runs or duo. Duo is a run where the running back starts his flow on the strong-side A gap. Then Washington Jr. reads the blocks and chooses which gap he wants to hit. Of course, on this run there was excellent blocking in front of him to allow him to get to the second level. He does the rest and ends with a 53 yard run.
Washington Jr. exhibited the home run ability that makes him an intriguing one-two punch with Jeanty. Kubiak has a plan for the young running back, and it is off to a great start.
