What is the story about?
The Las Vegas Raiders don’t break for training camp for another 6 weeks, but their has already been positional battles to start, and to be talked about. The Raiders coming off a 3-14 season are not going to pencil in their starters, there’s a lot of youth, and with that a lot of unproven talent. The Raiders completely overhauled their offense, defense, and special teams with a projected 29th ranking in the NFL for returning snaps largely due to many Carrol veterans & defensive veterans leaving the organization
last off-season. With training cap set to break soon, some core battles on all three phases will take light.
Kicker: Matt Gay (55%) vs Kansei Matsuzawa (45%)
Dark Horse: Non Rostered Kicker (less than 0%)
- Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis outlined that the Raiders kicking competition has been heating up, and that the hope is Matt Gay will return for the level that he played at under DeCamillis on the Rams super bowl run. Additionally, he outlined that Matsuzawa will be extremely good in the NFL, and that likely gives me hope the battle isn’t as favored as I may expect it to be. Gay was exceptional under DeCamillis before converting 98% of his extra points and 94% of his field goals including 4/5 on 50+ in 2021. Additionally he’d convert 94% of his field goals the next year and go 7/9 from 50+ under DeCamillis before falling off to a 80% rate over the next 45 games and just 15/31 on 50+. Gay also does have a brief history with John Spytek, as the two crossed paths in Tampa Bay during the 2019 season in which Gay converted just 77% of his field goals in 16 games.
As for Matsuzawa, the “Tokyo Toe” & “Special K” he will have a slight uphill battle, but not due to Gay’s performance. Matsuzawa, who turned 27 this January, has only been a kicker for 5 seasons now. After learning through YouTube, Matsuzawa attended Hocking university from 2021-2022 where he converted 12 of 14 field goals in 2022 including a 52 yarder. He transferred to Hawaii and in 2024 converted 75% of his attempts (12/16) before an All-American season in 2025 converting 27 of 29 both of which led the NCAA along with his NCAA leading 121 points. Matsuzawa has a good leg, but he’s not been tested, and he’ll also need to adjust to the pressure of an NFL style system with smaller hashes. The battle will be tough, and I can fully see Matsuzawa pulling away, and he has the favor of Gay struggling over the past few years on his side where he’ll simply need to continue to develop instead of fight for his job.
Long Snapper: Alex Ward (50%) vs Tyler Duzansky (50%)
Dark Horse: None
- I likely expect this battle to be cleaned up quickly. Duzansky received one of the highest UDFA guaranteed contracts for a long snapper since guaranteed money was tracked 6 years ago. The former Penn State snapper was viewed as the best snapper in the class, with the best snap times, and consistently hitting his spots. Ward, has experience with DeCamillis in Los Angeles. The former UCF standout has started 38 games at snapper in his NFL time, but was released in 2025 after multiple muffed snaps leading to missed opportunities for the Rams special teams unit, which ranked near the bottom of the NFL. I truly think this battle is a toss up, Duzansky unlike Ward does have the benefit of improvement, and not fighting for his job on his side which could improve the mental aspect. Ward has NFL experience, and if he can get back to his 2023/2024 form I doubt he’ll lose the job.
Kick Returner: Dareke Young (50%) vs Tre Tucker (25%) vs Dylan Laube (15%)
Dark Horse: Shedrick Jackson (5%), Jonathan Brady (2%), Anyone Else (3%)
- The Raiders don’t really have a proven kick returner on their roster, and none of their undrafted free agents have been kick return standouts outside of Brady who has just 317 kick return yards in his career & hasn’t done so since 2024. Dareke Young has just 10 returns in his career for 332 yards, which includes a 60 yarder. He’s the likely leader in the room, but Dylan Laube will give a push. The former 6th rounder hast 39 returns for 1019 yards and a long of 59 yards in his career. Tre Tucker has returned just one kick in his NFL career, is that on him being a poor returner or Tom McMahon who knows, but Tucker has proven to be a strong kick returner in his career. Through his time at Cincinnati, Tucker returned 67 kicks for 1670 yards, and two touchdowns.
While he’s not a guy who can push downfield for a long return, Laube does provide the ability to get to an average of the 26 to 28 yard line, though Young does show more. Jackson didn’t return kicks in the NFL, but has done so at Auburn and could look to return to that aspect as a way to push for the roster beyond just a depth WR role. This battle seems to be Dareke Young’s to lose, but no one has shown much and the Raiders are desperate for a top returner to emerge, and Tucker could look to bounce back into that role if Las Vegas wants to expose him to more contact.
Punt Returner: Tre Tucker (40%) vs Malik Benson (40%)
Dark Horse: Jonathan Brady (5%), Anyone Else (15%)
- As mentioned in the kick returner section, the Raiders don’t have any true returners. Tucker has just 15 returns for 121 yards in his career, and Tom McMahon limited how often the Raiders would return punts overall. Tucker is currently slated as the teams punt returner, though Jermod McCoy & Ashton Jeanty have taken reps in such role but I highly doubt the Raiders expose either to more contact. Malik Benson likely has an inside track here, though he has just 10 career punt returns in his college career for 165 yards, including a 60 yard touchdown. Benson is athletic, he’s quick and moves well initially, and while pushing for the roster being a capable punt returner goes far. Brady could make the roster here, though I doubt it due to limited overall receiver skills but he did return 21 punts for 350 yards and a touchdown in 2025 for the Hoosiers.
Gunners: TBD
- I won’t break this section down too much, because truly at the end of the day this section could include everyone on the entire roster almost. Whoever the Raiders lean with at depth CB, WR, ILB, and possibly safety will need to be core contributors on special teams. It’s easy to figure that options such as Dareke Young, Tommy Eichenberg, and Segun Olubi will be focal points of special teams units, but beyond that will come down to who impresses during camp, pre-season, and previous history.
