The ESSENTIAL Football Show 
Top 51 Cap Space: 2026: $26.7 million | 2027: $100.2 million | 2028: $279.5 million
Draft Picks: 2027: 1-7 | 2028: 1-7
Football Decision Makers: GM Jon Spytek | HC Klint Kubiak | OC Andrew Janocko | DC Rob Leonard | ST Joe DeCamillis
State of the Team
A year after they went with a “safe” option in former head coach Pete Carroll, the Raiders kick off Round Two of the Jon Spytek/Tom Brady era with an entirely different dynamic. With young, offensive-minded head coach Klint Kubiak and rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first overall pick, in tow, the Raiders potentially have the long-term faces of their franchise in place.
Potential is always a tricky thing, and after a year under Carroll that was close to a wash in terms of player development and acquisition, Kubiak and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard won’t have much to work with on their respective sides of the ball. There are certainly bright spots - the Raiders made significant additions on both sides of the ball in free agency - but for lack of a better word, this roster sucked, and while the process this offseason appears sound, that has to get translated to the field.
I prefer the optimistic view, particularly at this time of year, so we’ll focus on what would need to happen for this to look right, but up front, it’s difficult to see how this team is going to compete for a playoff spot in 2026. With three established teams in their division, a good step forward for the Raiders could well be a 7-10 season with quarterback play that makes them an attractive destination in the 2027 offseason; with the cap projected to go up by a significant margin once again, teams will need to provide an OVERWHELMING amount of cash to convince free agents to sign in less appealing destinations. (See: Tyler Linderbaum getting roughly a 50% raise over the previous top center contract).
Offense
There wasn’t much volume in terms of load-bearing pieces coming out of last season, but the ones the Raiders do have are big pluses.
Kolton Miller missed the bulk of last season after a Week 4 ankle injury forced him out of the lineup, but if healthy, the 6’8, 320 pounder is a “set it and forget it” left tackle who has been consistently available for most of his NFL career; entering his age-31 season, it is entirely reasonable to expect Miller to return to health. Miller will be joined by another building block on the offensive line, center Tyler Linderbaum, who brings top-end mobility to the pivot position and should allow the Raiders to inject a lot of creativity in their run-blocking schemes.
At the skill positions, third-year tight end Brock Bowers and second-year running back Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas’s last two first-round picks, are difference-makers at their position. We have to throw out the numbers for Jeanty, who was in a terrible situation last season, but I’ll lean on the shiftiness and contact balance he displayed, along with the speed he showed ripping off a 64-yard touchdown, and assume we see Jeanty well over 3.7 yards per carry in a competent offense. As for Bowers, he needs to get healthy after a frustrating 2025, but he was elite as a rookie; Bowers has great hands, the ability to stretch the seam, and is a nightmare catching dump-offs in the flat, where I’d argue he has a case as the most difficult tackle in the NFL.
Unfortunately, the positives end there.
I was optimistic about right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson and right tackle DJ Glaze heading into their second seasons last year, but both had frustrating seasons relative to the way they finished their rookie years. It’s entirely possible Kubiak and company get them back on track - Seattle’s offensive line certainly improved under Kubiak’s guidance last season - but they probably need 3rd-round draft pick Trey Zuhn to beat out free-agent addition Spencer Burford at left guard to wind up with a quality starting five; I like Kubiak (and offensive line coach Rick Dennison)’s chances of coaching up the guys who were with the Raiders last year, but I doubt they will get more out of Burford than the inconsistent play he put on tape under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
As for the receiver group, I’d be quite surprised if anyone outside of diehard Raiders fans and the families of the players is excited about seeing what Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, Jack Bech, and Donte Thornton can put together in 2026. Brock Bowers is a terrific pass-catcher, but he’s one player with a specific skillset, and I struggle to envision how Las Vegas is going to build a passing game around the tight end, who could wind up rivaling the target share Jaxon Smith-Njigba posted in Kubiak’s Seattle offense last year.
Put it all together, and you can understand why the Raiders wanted a veteran quarterback like Kirk Cousins to navigate the early waters. We haven’t gotten to the defense, but it seems (wildly) unlikely Kubiak is going to get the sort of support that the Seahawks defense brought to the table; between a shaky offensive line, a lack of established receiving targets, and the likelihood that they will often be playing from behind, it makes a lot more sense to let Mendoza acclimate to NFL life at his own pace.
For all his positives - and Mendoza checks a lot of boxes with his physical skillset - several terrific quarterback minds (Kurt Warner and Dan Orlovsky among them) pointed out the lack of middle-of-the-field throws in Indiana’s offense last season, along with the number of sideline back shoulders off RPOs. As a fellow film junkie, I tend to think these opinions are driven by something on the tape - there are certainly exceptions and biases, but I don’t think those two are just making things up - and if that’s the case, there could be an adjustment period as Mendoza adjusts to the speed and timing of NFL offenses. He’s got the tools to do it if everything comes together, and the Raiders aren’t in much of a position to compete even if Mendoza excels as a rookie, so setting him up behind a mature veteran who can play winning football and demonstrate a terrific off-field process the way Cousins has seems to be a positive all the way around.
Defense
After a confusing offseason news cycle, the Raiders defense is (still) anchored by edge rusher “MADD” Maxx Crosby.
As good as Crosby would have looked in Baltimore colors, I don’t mind watching him in the silver and black for as long as he’s there; his film has stood out from Day One due to the relentless nature of his game, and while it would have been interesting to see what was behind Door #2 if the Raiders had made the swap, retaining a blue-chip player at a premium position could wind up paying dividends if Mendoza hits and Las Vegas is ready to compete in 2027 and 2028.
Beyond Crosby, the Raiders appear set at off-ball linebacker, where they reunited former Georgia teammates Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker on free-agent deals, but the rest of the depth chart has a mix of veteran starters and and young challengers; we might not see any rookies in the starting lineup Week One, but after Las Vegas added defenders in Rounds 2-7, I’d expect to see some of the “current” starting lineup displaced as the season progresses. Las Vegas added players at every level, with the more premium picks spent on a nickel (Treydan Stukes, 2nd), an edge (Keyron Crawford, 3rd), and the draft’s ultimate wild card, cornerback Jermod McCoy, a “top-10 talent” who fell to the 4th round due to serious concerns regarding his knee.
If the defense is healthy, it could be solid, but it’s hard to point to anyone outside of Crosby and definitively say “this guy will be a difference-maker.” Kwity Paye is a solid free-agent addition on the edge, but he’s more in the bucket of defensive tackles Jonah Laulu and Adam, Butler, who are good players to have in a rotation, but aren’t going to define your season.
Defensive coordinator will be the X-Factor here; Rob Leonard was promoted from Las Vegas defensive line coach to defensive coordinator when Kubiak took over, which either means the Raiders had a hidden gem lurking on their staff, or that Kubiak had limited options because he was putting his staff together during a Super Bowl run, when many other jobs were filled well before. I don’t know enough to say one way or the other; Leonard has an interesting background in terms of who he has worked for and the variety of schemes those coaches employed, but we’ll have to see it on the grass to know one way or another.
Final Takeaways
The Raiders had the first overall pick this year and picked in the Top 10 the year before; that doesn’t happen unless the foundational level of talent on your roster is bad. Given where they are starting from, I think that the Klint Kubiak-Fernando Mendoza pairing is about as good a bet as you can make. It is a long build ahead in an NFL landscape where there are a lot of teams with a LOT of future cap space, but you have to start somewhere.
As I look at it in its totality, the one thing I will quibble with is the number of picks the Raiders spent on defense. They added guard Trey Zuhn out of Texas A&M in the 3rd round, but I don’t understand why they didn’t take more shots to upgrade the receiving group or the offensive line in Rounds 2-4. They added running back Mike Washington in the 4th round, but they don’t need a roll of the dice at that position with Jeanty on the roster; they could fill the slot with a veteran as easily, and while it’s difficult to find a tackle at that point in the draft, we see outstanding guards and receivers come out of the middle rounds on a regular basis.
You can only fix so much in one offseason, and spreading out their assets could wind up paying off, but to use a Daniel Jeremiah-ism, if I’ve got a rookie quarterback, I’m doing everything I can to load up the offense around him, and if that’s all working, then I’ll get the defense where it needs to be.