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.
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
