Silver And Black Pride
Kicker is on final year of his current deal; a look at what a new contract would cost Las Vegas
One boot specialist locked in, another one ... soon?
A proper question considering the Las Vegas Raiders gave elite punter AJ Cole III a lucrative four-year, $15.8 million contract extension which makes him the NFL’s highest-paid punter, earlier this past week. Cole, 29 years old, entered the 2025 campaign on the final year of his current pact and his new deal locks him in for the next five season. He’ll hit unrestricted free agency in 2030 (at age 35).
But Cole isn’t the only leg on the last year of their current deal. Special teams battery mate Daniel Carlson is in the same boat as he’s under contract this season and, without an extension, he hits next offseason as an unrestricted free agency.
The Raiders’ kicking tandem has been in lock-step since the 2019 season (Carlson arrived in 2018 as a waiver wire pickup after the Minnesota Vikings grew tired of his shanking ways) and it’s Cole who servers as the holder to Carlson’s field goal attempts.
So it’s only natural to wonder if Carlson is in the new regime’s long-term plans.
By The Numbers:
Daniel Carlson, Kicker,
As you can see from the his 2024 production above, it was a “down” year for the 30-year-old kicker. That 85 percent conversion rate is Carlson’s third lowest percentage in his seven seasons in the league. The lowest was his 19 of 26 output — 73.1 percent — in 2019 and second was 17 of 21 — 81 percent — his rookie year in 2018. Caveat there was he went 1 of 4 as a Viking and then 16 of 17 as a Raider that season.
This past season, Carlson was money from the 20- to 39-yard range going 22 of 22. It was distances beyond that where the misses arrived as he went 6 of 8 from 40-49 yards and 7 of 11 from 50-yards plus.
Perhaps Las Vegas is waiting to see Carlson’s 2025 performance before giving him a new deal?
Cole, on the other hand, has been a consistent performer and in terms of yards per punt career leaders list, he’s second at 48.6 (2019-24) to the Detroit Lions Jack Fox (48.8 from 2020-24). Fun fact here: Tied for No. 4 on the list is former Raiders punter Shane Lechler who averaged 47.6 yards per boot from 2000-17.
That all said, Carlson is in the Top 5 of field goal percentage career leaders. His 87.5 mark is good for fifth overall on the list. Former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin...
