If someone told you your favorite team led the league in starting field position, your instant, natural reaction would probably be that this is a good thing. That's what we want, right? And in some cases that might be true. It can suggest defenses are stopping opposing offenses deep in their own end of the field and perhaps getting nice returns as well. But in the case of the Raiders, the stat can be quite misleading.
2026 Average Drive Start Position
— Gridiron Stats and Info (@GridironInfo_) November 13, 2026
Shows each team's average starting field position on offense. Las Vegas has the best average starting field position in the league at their own 34.6-yard line this season. pic.twitter.com/gFlZTmeE2t
As you can see in this graphic, the Raiders lead the league in starting field position (34.6). And
while they do have Dylan Laube leading the league in kick return average, the problem here is this stat doesn't delineate between kick returns and punt returns. And we all know the Raiders defense is not pinning teams deep.
As the AP's Josh Dubow pointed out, the Raiders have held teams to the third fewest punts this season. And forcing punts are what can cause a team to start drives closer to their own goal line, thus lowering the starting field position number.
Along with Laube's great returns, what's happening here is, rather than stopping teams deep in their own territory, the Raiders defense is mostly doing the opposite -- not stopping them at all. Hence the six-game streak of allowing 30 or more points.
So, they are giving up scores instead of stopping teams and then the field position numbers looks better due to most of their field position coming off of kick returns. Add Laube's league-leading return average and you have a recipe for a juiced average starting field position stat.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders' league-best starting field position somewhat misleading
