The Las Vegas Raiders are no strangers to relying on Daniel Carlson’s leg.
Since entering the league in 2018 as a fifth-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2018 NFL Draft, the 30-year-old kicker ranks second in the league with 203 field goals. Carlson’s 832 career points — 823 as a Raider — makes him one of four player’s in Silver & Black history to score 800-plus points. He’s also one of 15 kickers in league history to reach 800-career points in his first seven seasons in the NFL.
Raider Nation
is accustomed to the exhilaration when Carlson’s blasts a game-winning boot through the uprights while the opposition gets serious deflation with his field goals.
Heading into his eighth season in the NFL, though, the Auburn product needs to return to his “sniper” ways. The accuracy needs to align with the power once more, especially considering Las Vegas is in its inaugural season under the John Spytek and Pete Carroll regime.
Why’s that?
I don’t expect the Raiders to be world beaters in their first season under the new general manager and head coach. Spytek and Carroll have plenty of work to do in terms of roster building and player development. I have a hard time seeing Las Vegas shellacking opponents in lopsided wins in 2025. I see contests that are wars of attrition that are back-and-forth, nail-biting tilts, that’ll come down to Carlson’s leg — more often than not.
As such, the 86.7 percent (26 of 30) and 85 percent (34 of 40) field goal percentages that Carlson compiled in 2023 and 2024, respectively, isn’t good enough. The 6-foot-5 and 215-pound kicker must be money this season.
Dubbed “sniper” by his teammates due to his long-range accuracy, that was a well-earned moniker for Carlson during an impressive three-season run from 2020 to 2022. Those were years where the kicker went 33 of 35 (94.3 percent), 40 of 43 (93 percent), and 34 of 37 (91.9). That 2021 season, Carlson led the league in both attempts and makes including drilling game-winning field goals in the fourth quarter or overtime in five separate contests.
That year was one in which the Silver & Black finished 10-7 and made the playoffs (then-head coach Jon Gruden was fired with longtime special teams boss Rich Bisaccia replacing him). That was also a year where the Raiders could score points (middling, ranking 18th with 374 total points; 22 per game average) while struggling to stop opponents from scoring (26th-ranked unit that allowed 439 total points; 25.8 per game average).
By most-recent indications, the 2025 Raiders are going to be in a similar situation. This time, it appears Las Vegas will score points on offense — with Geno Smith leading the way at quarterback with tight end Brock Bowers to throw to and prized sixth-overall selection and running back Ashton Jeanty to hand the ball off to — while not stymieing the opposition on defense.
It’s no secret the Raiders have more established talent to make offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s offense go. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, on the other hand, does have elite defensive end Maxx Crosby, but overall, the unit boasts a very young core group.
There will likely be more growing pains from the Raiders defense than the offense.
While many will take preseason with a grain of salt — understandable since teams usually go super vanilla on offense and defense — Las Vegas called upon Carlson nine times already in the exhibition tilts. He went 3 of 5 (long of 56 yards) in the Raiders preseason opening 23-23 tie with the Seattle Seahawks. This past Saturday, Carlson was a solid 4-for-4 (long of 54) in Las Vegas’ 22-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
A resurgence in accuracy not only has ramifications for the Raiders’ win-loss record this coming season, but also financial incentives for Carlson. The kicker is in the final year of an extension he signed in 2021 and holds a $5.15 million cap number this season. Sans another contract, Carlson is set to hit unrestricted free agency next offseason. His special teams battery mate, punter AJ Cole III, inked a four-year contract extension worth $15.8 million with $10 million in total guarantees. The punter and holder is locked in as a Raider and hits unrestricted free agency in 2030.
Perhaps, Spytek — like many of us — is awaiting to see if Carlson can recapture the accuracy from three seasons ago before committing a new contract to the kicker. For his part, the big-legged place kicker — who is 40 points from overtaking George Blanda as second on the franchise all-time points scored list — wants to remain in Silver & Black.
“Yeah, I mean absolutely, especially for an historic organization like the Raiders. I mean, that does emphasize special teams and has so many legendary kickers and punters and snappers throughout the league,” Carlson said when asked about being close to Blanda’s franchise marks. “So, it’s really cool. And I try not to dwell on that too much right now. And later on, look back at that, and really enjoy that. But, I mean, it is really cool. And you got to, you know, enjoy it every once a while and think about it.
“But I’ve been very blessed and really enjoyed my time here; I’m very appreciative of being a Raider and I hopefully get to do that for a long, long time. But, yeah, just trying to take advantage of each day as it comes right now and then this season, of course.”
