Silver And Black Pride
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.
Starting DT – 2 Spots: Adam Butler (70%) vs Thomas Booker IV (50%) vs Jonah Laulu (40%) vs Tonka Hemingway (30%)
Dark Horse: JJ Pegues (10%)
The Raiders starting DL will basically all be battling for their jobs this training camp. It’s a truly tough room to sort out, more because they are likely one of the worst rooms in the league. Thomas Booker showed to be a good pass rusher on the interior, and I think he has a very good chance to start in 2026, though Booker’s inability to play the run will drag down his true odds to make an impact consistently despite his 24% pass rush win rate on stunts and twists. Adam Butler likely is penciled in right now, and the 32 year old saw a dip in his production for the 2025 season. Butler played more 3/4 Tech at a rate higher than any other year, and I’d expect Rob Leonard to use him in diverse fronts similar to how he did prior to his extension in 2025.
Butler won’t be handed the spot, he did regress in 2025, and he did struggle vs the run. In an ideal world, Butler is a 4th option in the room, but for Las Vegas he’s likely the starter. Jonah Laulu was productive in 2025, playing nearly 1800 snaps across the last two seasons, and he showed some flashes as a run defender with alright pass rush traits. Laulu is a quality depth player, he can work across the line, but I don’t see him in line to start. Tonka Hemingway is a true wildcard, he flashed in his limited opportunities for the 2025 season, and has true 10+ sack potential as a pass rusher on the interior. Las Vegas could use Hemingway’s pass rush juice, athleticism, and strength but he’s not good vs the run, and that can limit him on the amount of snaps he’ll see in the future or odds to start. JJ Pegues is likely pushing for the NT position, he’s more of a traditional run defender with limited pass rush athleticism, though I wouldn’t count him out but expect more of a 200-400 snap rotational defensive tackle.
Nose Tackle: Benito Jones (30%) vs JJ Pegues (30%) vs Brandon Cleveland (30%)
Dark Horse: Gary Smith (9%), Laki Tasi (1%)
