The battle is simple in concept: The grizzled aging veteran looking to recapture former glory versus an intriguing and accurate (but older) undrafted free agent.
That’s the easiest way to sum up the upcoming Las Vegas Raiders kicking competition between Matt Gay and Kansei Matsuzawa. But the battle between the 32-year-old Gay and 27-year-old Matsuzawa will be anything but basic.
It’s a kicking competition that shouldn’t be overlooked as the Silver & Black embark on Klint Kubiak’s inaugural season as head
coach. And it’s a vital decision point Kubiak’s chosen special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis will make this offseason. Our Bill Williamson highlighted this fight earlier this week, nothing Matsuzawa will have chance to make the roster.
If you’re dismissing the impeding battle between the two kickers as inconsequential, I get it.
“Kickers hardly matter” is often the opine of those who believe special teams isn’t an important aspect of a football team. But let’s take a look at Kubiak’s most recent tenure before he accepted the gig to lead the Raiders: The 2025 Seattle Seahawks.
With Kubiak as offensive coordinator, the Super Bowl champion Seahawks tied for the most field goal attempts this past season with 48 (with the Houston Texans). Trusty veteran kicker Jason Myers (34 years old) went 41-of-48 (85.4 percent) on field goals (48-for-48 on extra points) during the regular season and 8-for-8 on field goals during Seattle’s title run in the playoffs. That perfect mark in postseason play included a Super Bowl record 5-for-5 performance in the Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the New England Patriots.
Of the 483 total points the Kubiak-orchestrated Seattle offense scored in the regular season, 171 of them were off the foot of Myers. And of the 101 playoff points said offense put up, 35 were courtesy of the kicker.
For Kubiak’s praise as a creative and productive offensive play caller, Seattle was middle of the pack in terms of red zone attempts (59 total; 12th highest amongst the 32 NFL teams) and red zone touchdowns (32 total; 14th highest) netting the Seahawks a 54.2 red zone percentage (21st in the league). While those numbers may not impress most, compared to the Raiders’ red zone performance (36 red zone visits, just 18 touchdowns for a 50 percent conversion rate good for 26th overall), Kubiak’s totals are vastly superior in comparison. (But one cannot ignore the talent and coaching differences between the two football teams, of course. Seattle head coach Mike McDonald, the man who replaced Pete Carroll, proved to be superior in almost every aspect to the latter who coached the Raiders in 2025).
That all said, the kicker for the Kubiak-led Raiders is likely to have a high participation rate like Myers. Which brings us back to Matsuzawa and Gay.
Let’s look into the veteran first.
There’s built-in familiarity between the veteran kicker, DeCamillis and even Raiders general manager John Spytek. Gay arrived to the NFL scene as a fifth-round pick (145th overall) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and during that draft, Spytek was Tampa’s director of player personnel. Granted, Gay only spent the 2019 season with the Bucs (27-of-35 on field goals, 77.1 percent) before getting released and moving on to the Los Angeles Rams for following three seasons.
It was during the 2021 and 2022 campaigns where Gay hit his stride as a placekicker with DeCamillis as the Rams’ special teams boss as the Utah product post his career best numbers: 32-of-34 (94.1 percent) in 2021 and 28-of-30 (93.3 percent) in 2022. The 144 total points Gay produced in 2021 landed him a Pro Bowl selection and he followed that up with 115 points in 2022.
The relationship forged those two seasons — in which Gay noted it was DeCamllis’ day-to-day interactions which built his confidence and a reason the kicker signed with the Raiders this offseason — can’t be understated and it’ll be intriguing to see if the kicker and special teams coordinator can rekindle that chemistry. Because since those two particular years, Gay hasn’t approached that same type of accuracy, confidence, and production. He arrived in Las Vegas coming off a 2025 campaign that saw him go 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) between the Washington Commanders and San Francisco 49ers (4-for-4).
Career-wise, Gay holds an 87.2 percent accuracy rate from 40 to 49 yards out (48-of-54), nearly 92 percent from 30 to 39 yards out (57-of-55), and perfect from 20 to 29 yards out (45-for-45) over his seven years in the NFL. He struggles from long range with a 59.2 percent conversion rate (32-of-54 from 50-plus yards.
Which brings us to the Hawaii product Matsuzawa.
Older for a rookie at 27, the Japanese kicker dubbed affectionately as the “Tokyo Toe” getting signed by the Raiders as an undrafted free agent is only fitting. There’s a historical connection for Matsuzawa and the Silver & Black as attending a Raiders vs. Rams game in the coliseum in Oakland was the catalyst for the kicker to pursue his NFL dream.
That resulted in Matsuzawa teaching himself how to kick by watching YouTube videos, going the junior college route, before landing at Hawaii. After a 2024 season with the Rainbow Warriors that saw the kicker learn the pace of Division I football (12-of-16, 75 percent), Matsuzawa showcase improved accuracy going 27-of-29 in 2025 for an impressive 93.1 percentage and earning consensus All-American honors.
The 6-foot-2 and 200-pound specialist showcased both accuracy and ability to handle volume, this past season as he set the school record with 27 made field goals and tied a FBS record with 25 consecutive field goals made to start 2025. That record was held by longtime Raiders nemesis Jason Elam, who was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round (70th overall) of the 1993 draft and spent 15 seasons with the team.
His 2025 season made Matsuzawa a 2025 Lou Groza Award (best collegiate placekicker nod) finalist, an accolade that went to Oklahoma’s Tate Sandell (24 of 27 on field goals (88.9 percent), 35-for-35 on PATs).
Matsuzawa’s two misses in 2025 came from distances between the 30- and 39-yard line and another from 50-plus yards out. He was perfect from every other distance including an impressive 10-for-10 mark from 40 to 49 yards out.
And it’s that accuracy and ability to handle volume which will be appealing for a Kubiak offense that often required the kicker to put points on the board after not being able to get into the end zone.
That’s likely where the line in the sand of the competition lies: Which kicker can showcase the accuracy, mental toughness, and ability to quickly move on from misses and get the job done this offseason and through preseason games.
Gay proved that, albeit four seasons ago, with DeCamillis as his coach. And Matsuzawa must continue his accurate ways with Hawaii in Las Vegas to earn the favor of the special teams boss.
Gay is looking to rekindle and continue is NFL career while Matsuzawa eyes completing an intriguing story to achieve his NFL dream and become a legitimate professional.
Both have feel-good tones but only one can win the gig.
Extra Point: As a Japan-born prospect, Matsuzawa is an International Player Pathway (IPP) program product. He makes the second IPP product currently on the Raiders roster — the other defensive tackle Laki Tasi. Like Tasi, Matsuzawa is eligible to be placed on a special exempt 17th practice squad spot if either doesn’t make the 53-man roster. However, only one of them is eligible for that particular exemption.
