The Las Vegas Raiders are gearing up for a massive Week 4 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, and the surprise 3-0 Raiders have a chance to finish the first quarter of the 2026 season atop the AFC West. But this week’s mailbag has a lot of questions about Las Vegas’ roster
and any potential changes, shifting the focus to that and any potential changes.Q: Do the Raiders trade for a wide receiver if they continue winning, or do they stand pat and wait for the draft to get their future No. 1?
A:
Someone else asked a similar question: if the Raiders are at or above .500 at the halfway point of the season, do you think they should be a buyer at the trade deadline?
In my opinion, I don’t think John Spytek and Klint Kubiak should veer too far away from the offseason plan of building for the future. Sure, the Raiders are having a great season and are one of the biggest surprises in the NFL so far. But the organization’s goal was never to be good for just one year; it’s about building a sustainable winner for several years to come.
So, especially if the team is at or above .500 around the trade deadline, it definitely makes sense for them to go after a young wide receiver like Brian Thomas Jr. and Marvin Harrison Jr., if they’re available. Those two are 24 years old (Thomas turns 24 next week), were highly regarded prospects, and would be under team control for two to three years since they were first-round picks and have the fifth-year option on their contracts.
Obviously, Thomas and Harrison aren’t working out in their current situations; otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about them as trade candidates. However, the Raiders would be able to get a first-round talent at a position of need at a discount, and while they’re still on relatively cheap contracts.
According to Over The Cap, Thomas is making about $4 million this year and about $4.7 million in 2027, while Harrison is making $9.6 million and $11.3 million. That’s chump change in today’s receiver market where 27 guys are making $20 million per year or more. So, if it only takes, say, a third- or fourth-round pick to get one of those guys, I think Spytek should do that, especially since the Raiders are playing their way out of Jeremiah Smith territory.
Now, when it comes to adding an older veteran — Terry McLaurin and Vita Vea are a couple of names that come to mind — Spytek should be more price-sensitive, in my opinion. Would McLaurin and Vea make the Raiders a better team right now? Absolutely. However, again, don’t mortgage the future or lose sight of the long-term goal just to improve the roster for half a season and maybe one more year after that.
If it’s something like a fifth-rounder or later, I can get on board with that, and you could probably sway me into a fourth.
The Raiders did a great job of adding young talent this offseason, and it’s paying dividends with guys like Nakobe Dean (25, turns 26 in December), Treydan Stukes (25), Hezekiah Masses (22), etc., already playing well. If you’re asking me, veering away from that strategy and giving up significant draft capital for players who are in their 30s is a bad and short-sighted decision. But again, if Spytek can get someone like that for cheap, go for it!
Q: Be honest now. Before the season, did you have the 3-0 Raiders on your bingo card? If no, what record?
A: Hell no! LOL! Heading into the season, I thought they’d be 1-2 with losses to the Chargers and Saints. But trust me, no one is happier that I was wrong than I am. I underestimated how quickly Kubiak could turn the culture around, and I couldn’t be more excited for the future, including how the rest of this season plays out.
Q: Will Treydan Stukes, as a more valuable starting FS, be removed from special teams duty in favor of using Isaiah Pola-Mao? The rookie’s injury risk seems too high.
A: I certainly hope so because Vegas doesn’t have another good option at free safety, as we found out (and kind of already knew) once Stukes suffered the concussion against the Chargers. What does give me some worry is that Pola-Mao was already on every special teams unit in Week 1, when Stukes was also contributing on special teams.
However, what gives me hope is that IPM only took three special teams snaps (all on the punt coverage team) with Stukes out last week, per Pro Football Focus. Tristin McCollum — who was active and played on special teams in Week 1 but inactive for Week 2 — filled in for IPM on special teams in New Orleans. So, it seems like the coaching staff learned its lesson and is going to keep key starters off special teams moving forward.
Q: Excited to see that Stukes looks ready to play against the Chiefs. That said, why oh why did IPM play 100% of the FS snaps last week? Five catches on five targets with 3 TDs and a missed tackle, according to PFF. Any casual Raiders fan could’ve told Rob Leonard to expect those results. He couldn’t rotate Tristin McCollum in for a couple of drives here or there? Really? Where is Dalton Johnson? Would you rather see IPM at free safety than Dalton? IPM is a fantastic backup box safety, but I’m done seeing him at the back of our defense.
A: I hear ya, but the only person who can give you a truthful or non-speculative answer to a lot of your questions here is Rob Leonard.
My take on the matter is that McCollum absolutely should have gotten a chance to play last week. I don’t know if the results would have been much different because he isn’t a good free safety either, but Pola-Mao obviously wasn’t getting the job done. Leonard might as well give someone else a shot at that point, whether that be McCollum or another defensive back on the roster.
As for Johnson, he’s been a healthy scratch every game so far. Apparently, the coaching staff doesn’t think he’s ready to see the field, especially since last week would have been a great opportunity for him to dress for the first time. I will say that Johnson profiles more as a big nickel or box safety; however, as you pointed out, so does Pola-Mao.
Luckily, Stukes is back for Sunday, so this shouldn’t be an issue moving forward. Hopefully, if he does have to miss time down the road, Leonard learned his lesson and will give someone other than Pola-Mao a chance to patrol the back end of the defense.
Q: I think Eric Stokes seems like a good teammate and loves being a Raider. He doesn’t seem like a guy who gets his contract and then stops working hard. Why do you think his game has fallen off?
A: One of my concerns with Stokes is that he isn’t a good fit in the coverage scheme that Leonard is running. Stokes has a lot of linear speed, but he doesn’t have good lateral movement skills and is tight hipped, making it difficult to change directions. That’s not as big of a deal when a cornerback is playing a lot of spot dropping coverages like traditional Cover 3 and 4.
However, Leonard is using a lot of pattern matching coverages. The scheme falls into the Cover 3 or Cover 4 family, but it’s different than just getting to a landmark and playing that area. I like to call pattern matching “man coveage with more rules”, where a corner will cover a receiver only if the receiver runs a certain route or reaches a certain depth. And if the receiver doesn’t cross the threshold, then the corner moves onto find another pass-catcher who fits into their coverage rules or looks to help a teammate in coverage.
So, it’s kind of a hybrid between man and zone coverage, where defenders get to an area at first and then play man if a threat enters into it. That way the defense isn’t giving up as many throwing windows to the quarterback (a weakness of zone coverage) while not getting into bad matchups where a linebacker has to cover a deep route (a weakness of man coverage). Also, there are a good amount of situtaions where a corner will play pure man coverage while the rest of the defense is in zone. It’s called ‘MEG’, which stands for Man Everywhere he Goes, if anyone wants to nerd out on it.
Circling back to Stokes, he’s primarily getting beaten when he has to cover sharp-breaking routes because he struggles to change directions. He’s best when he can just use his speed to stay ontop of routes and play with outside leverage, which is perfect for Cover 3 or non-quarters Cover 4. But his lack of lateral athleticism can be an issue when pattern matching since it’s similar to man coverage.
For context, Stokes’ 4.31-second 40-yard dash time as a draft prospect is in the 96th percentile among cornerbacks, per MockDraftable. However, his three-cone (6.96 seconds) and 20-yard shuttle (4.36 seconds), where change of direction and agility come into play, is in the 45th and 11th percentiles repsectively. So, he does have some makeup speed to recover, but it’s hard to rely on that against good route runners who are also fast.
Now, this isn’t to say that the $30 million corner can’t improve, or that he won’t get better at with more experience in the system. But it is something to monitor for the rest of the season, especially since the Raiders have a lot of young talent at corner.
Q: A Raider fan mentioned that Ashton Jeanty is not waiting to set up his blocks on the inside and outside zone runs. Instead, he’s rushing to the line and dancing behind it. Do you agree? I remember him saying in camp that he had to learn to be more patient and set up his blocks. If you agree, why can’t the coaches get through to him? It seems Mike Washington Jr.’s is better at it.
A: Understandably, I got a lot of questions about Jeanty this week, and I know there’s been some debate about who should be getting more touches between him and Washington. So, I’m going to use this question to sum up my thoughts on the topic.
I thought Jeanty had one of the best games of his young career against the Dolphins, then the offensive line let him down in Los Angeles, and he struggled last week, making him 1-1-1 on the season when it comes to running the ball, if you will. And I whole-heartedly disagree with the notion that Washington has better vision and is the better overall running back despite the rookie averaging more yards per carry (6.8 to 3.3).
Defenses are playing the run more when Jeanty is in the game, as he’s faced a significantly higher percentage of ‘stacked boxes’ (meaning eight or more defenders on the first and second levels) every week (see my post/tweet below for the exact numbers). Also, according to Next Gen Stats, Jeanty has faced the second-highest percentage of stacked boxes (38.1%) among qualified running backs in the NFL.
I genuinely think he re-injured his ankle in New Orleans and didn’t have the agility to make the cuts that we’ve seen from him in the past. Sprained ankles can be tricky and are easy to aggravate, especially if you try to rush the recovery process, and I think that’s getting misconstrued as him having bad vision. Jeanty looked like he was having a hard time cutting and ended up just barreling his head down to get what he can by the end of the game.
That being said, if the lead back isn’t 100 percent, Washington has played well enough to earn more carries. Kubiak said as much, so I imagine he’s going to be a bigger part of the game plan for at least the next few weeks given the circumstances. But I do think Washington’s efficiency is going to decrease with more touches and more attention placed on him.
Q: How good is Washington’s pass-catching ability? I haven’t seen stats or video pertaining to this. Not sure what’s going on with Jeanty (nagging injury?), but I’d like to see them put young Washington into play here and give him some room to move and groove.
A: To be clear, when I mentioned Jeanty being 1-1-1 so far this season, I was only talking about running the ball. The three drops against the Chargers were bad and inexcusable. However, he’s caught literally every other pass that’s come his way to be 13 for 16 with 97 receiving yards and two touchdowns through three games. So, I’d argue Jeanty is 2-1 as a receiver so far this season.
As far as Washington goes, he’s not a good route runner out of the backfield to be a legitimate option in the passing game. He’s a linear athlete rather than the latter, and you have to have the latter to be able to effectively run option routes, which is the foundation of a good route-running back. Dylan Laube is ahead of him in that department, though Laube does need to hold onto the damn ball!
Even at Arkansas, Washington wasn’t much of a threat as a receiver. He had 28 catches for 226 yards and a touchdown last year, but that was almost exclusively swing passes, screens and check downs. Essentially, extended handoffs. The rookie still has to grow to be a bigger part of the passing game moving forward.
Q: Our O-line and D-line were highly suspect prior to the season. Outside of Tyler Linderbaum and Maxx…can you pinpoint 1 other bright spot and low spot on each line, secondarily how can we improve the low spot. Player swap for next man up, or are they showing the tools to get better over the season?
A: For what it’s worth, PFF has Linderbaum (59.5) as the Raiders’ third-highest graded offensive lineman through three weeks, with Kolton Miller (75.6) and DJ Glaze (63.8) ahead of him. I still think Linderbaum is the best or most talented player on the line, but Miller and Glaze are playing pretty well right now. Get this: PFF has Glaze with only one pressure allowed this season. He’s really surprised me so far.
The guards are an issue, however. Spencer Burford has been awful in pass protection, tying for the most pressures allowed at the position with 12, while Jackson Powers-Johnson keeps trying to go for pancakes and missing in the running game. To be fair, Burford has been a decent run blocker, and JPJ has been solid in pass pro, but neither is a complete player at this stage.
With Caleb Rogers, presumptively, getting a start in place of Powers-Johnson this week, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Hezekiah Masses-Darien Porter type of situation in Week 5. As for Burford, I guess Trey Zuhn III would be the next option. However, Zuhn has been playing a lot more tackle. There isn’t a clear choice, with the other guard options being Bryce Cabeldue, who was just brought on a few weeks ago, and Evan Neal, who was also added after training camp and is currently on the practice squad.
Defensively, Malcolm Koonce was solid in the first two games and had a really good performance last week. He looks more like the guy we saw pre-ACL tear, and I’m hoping the Saints game was just what he needed to build some momentum moving forward. Kwity Paye played well in the season opener but has definitely blended in more over the last two games.
The defensive tackles kind of are what they are at this point. Foley Fatukasi is doing some good things in the running game by getting penetration, and I feel like Tonka Hemingway is getting better every week. Hemingway still struggles against double teams/combo blocks, but he’s doing much better when left one-on-one. I think the arrow is pointing up for him, but I’m also expecting the interior defensive line to be a top priority in the offseason (again).
Q: Jalen Nailor has 5 receptions for 52 yards and no touchdowns in three games (he made one nice catch against the Saints). Is Kirk Cousins just not looking his way, or is this a busted free agent acquisition?
A: Nailor has been open on a handful of occasions but the ball went somewhere else. The first play that comes to mind is Tre Tucker’s long touchdown against the Chargers. Nailor was occupying the safety on a deep curl route that helped get Tucker open, but Nailor was also able to create separation. Obviously, Cousins made the right decision there; I’m just saying it was also a good rep from Nailor. And there have been a few other times where he could have been targeted; that’s just the one that sticks out the most in my mind.
So, I wouldn’t slap the bust tag on him just yet. But I will acknowledge that his production has been disappointing so far, especially since Brock Bowers missed the first two games. It’s worth keeping an eye on the free-agent addition throughout the season, but I wouldn’t jump to conclusions at this stage.
Q: In your opinion, what happened in the 4th quarter that turned our mostly uninspiring defense into our rendition of the Monsters of the Midway? It was so sudden it almost seemed like a new squad took the field after the 3rd quarter.
A: Leonard kept the scheme pretty simple to begin the Saints game, at least compared to the first two weeks. Then, he started dialing up the simulated pressures and confusing looks, which helped lead to the fourth-quarter turnovers. I like that strategy when facing a young quarterback like Tyler Shough because it keeps them on their toes and gets them to doubt what they’re seeing.
I’m sure Shough went into the contest expecting to see exotic coverages and pressure packages. So, if the coordinator keeps it simple at the beginning, the quarterback is still confused because he’s expecting the picture to change post-snap, but it isn’t. Then, when he starts getting used to that, the defensive play caller can mix it up and play the cat-and-mouse game.
Also, I think the Raiders/Leonard were primarily trying to take away the deep shots from Shough since he was literally the best deep ball passer in the first two weeks of the season. So, the defense was playing to prevent explosive plays, and Shough did a good job of taking what was given to him. For everything I said about confusing a young quarterback, I give Shough a ton of credit because he handled it well and the defensive strategy wasn’t as effective as hoped. It’s kind of a ‘tip your cap’ moment, if you will.
That’s a big reason why New Orleans had so much success targeting the flats. Also, it didn’t help that when Leonard did dial up some pressure, Taron Johnson nearly got beaten for a touchdown, LOL!
Q: I’m a little worried by how reliant the Raiders have been on turnovers to win the last two weeks. Turnovers are, by definition, flukey plays. You can increase their base rate by creating more havoc… but they just aren’t going to be able to come up with the huge turnover every fourth quarter. IDK if you have thoughts? Maybe I’m worrying too much.
A: I don’t think you’re worrying too much because you are right that relying on turnovers isn’t sustainable week-to-week, especially when facing better and more veteran quarterbacks. Picking up from the question above, I do think Leonard has a really good scheme to help force quarterbacks into mistakes, and he’s clearly put an emphasis on punching the ball out.
However, it does make the Raiders’ defense more reliant on the offense screwing up, which becomes an issue when the competition level rises because good teams typically don’t beat themselves.
At the end of the day, Las Vegas still doesn’t have that much proven talent defensively. The linebackers have definitely improved, Maxx Crosby is still a stud, and linemen like Koonce and Hemingway seem like they’re starting to get there. But there are a lot of young guys out there, and veterans like Stokes and Johnson are benefiting from the mistakes mentioned above.
So, your skepticism certainly isn’t unjustified. As well as they’ve played, the defense still has room for growth to be less reliant on turnovers as the season goes on and the schedule gets tougher. But the good news is that the veteran mistakes haven’t hurt yet, and the young guys should only be getting better with more experience. Now, it’s just a matter of putting it all together and truly becoming a shutdown defense.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.
