3 Things We Already Know About 2026 Las Vegas Raiders

HENDERSON, Nev.—The 2026 Las Vegas Raiders kick off the season on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium by hosting the Miami Dolphins.

2026 is the start of a Raiders rebuild, and with a rebuild comes immense uncertainty.

Not uncertainty from poor planning or preparation; rather, it is uncertainty because the rebuilding process is about exploring, developing, and turning uncertainty into certainty.

Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek, and minority owner Tom Brady | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Amid this rebuild, three unmitigated facts about the Silver and Black have come to the forefront over the last 10 months.

So while so much attention is on the uncertainty, or, probably better said, the unknown, let’s look at three facts that we know already about this team.

Fact No. 1: A Real Commitment to Running the Football

Las Vegas Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

For the seven years I have covered this team, they have talked about running the football. The only time they tangibly demonstrated that was when Antonio Pierce was the interim head coach.

They didn’t even do it when he was officially the coach for some reason.

Ashton Jeanty was and is a terrific selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Mike Washington Jr. (MWJ) was as well this season.

Klint Kubiak’s coaching foundation is built on running the football creatively, with a two-back system.

His dedication helped the Seattle Seahawks win a Super Bowl last year, and when Ashton Jeanty got injured in practice, the team never lost a beat with MWJ on the field.

Kubiak’s DNA exudes a commitment to running the ball, and he won’t deviate.

Las Vegas Raiders RB Dylan Laube | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The 2026 Las Vegas Raiders will commit to running the rock, shortening games, controlling what they can control, and staying in more football games.

This team has often had to abandon the run game because they fell so far behind. By staying committed to the running game, you eat the clock and keep the ball out of the opponent’s offensive hands.

No one is going to score on every drive, far from it. That includes the rebuilding Raiders.

Connor Heyward | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Three-and-out drives are the enemy. They don't let your defense rest, and you give the ball right back to the opponent.

In 2026, the Raiders' commitment to running the ball, if executed properly, will limit wasted three-and-out drives. It won’t eliminate them, but it will limit them, and that alone makes this team better already.

When you add exceptional tailbacks in Jeanty and MWJ, along with FB Connor Heyward, and Dylan Laube has a Swiss Army Knife, the running game already looks much better.

Ashton Jeanty | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Kubiak isn’t in a relationship with the running game; he is married to it. As a football junkie who watched every practice rep possible, it is a good thing.

Don’t think of drives in terms of scoring and non-scoring; look at drives through the eyes of NFL elite minds: three-and-outs versus sustained time of possession, five or more plays before a punt.

A properly executed running game is the key to success there.

An improved running game, with a real commitment to running the football? I'm certain of that in 2026.

Fact No. 2: A Non-Offensive Offensive Line

There is an old Simon & Garfunkel song called “Mrs. Robinson,” and if you changed the lyrics to fit the 2026 Raiders, it would simply say, “Here’s to you, Coach Rick Dennison, Raider Nation loves you more than you will know.”

Of course, the quarterback position is the most important in all of football. But you can’t be impactful without some semblance of an offensive line.

Last year, the team tried to make their offensive line work like patches on a 1970s pair of kids’ jeans.

Atonio Mafi, Spencwer Burford, Kolton Miller | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

LT Kolton Miller was out injured, so was G Jackson Powers-Johnson, and OC Chip Kelly essentially wasted the year away.

It is being kind to call the Raiders' 2025 OL a disaster. Let’s be kind.

The reality is that Rick “Rico” Dennison is now leading the OL. The best OL coach in the NFL is a savant tutor, spoken of across the NFL with almost Jedi Master Vibes. This walking football genius is a no-nonsense, old-school football coach who can get every bit of talent out of players who want to get better.

Kolton Miller | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The key is to give him players who want it. The weak, or unwilling, will hate him; the willing and hungry love him.

In a league that often features those searching for self-aggrandizement, Rico attracts, like a magnet, the old-soul football players who love physical contact, athleticism, and the mental side of football, which most fans are clueless about.

Kirk Cousins, Tyler Linderbaum | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Kolton Miller is back, healthy, and playing very well. Spytek went out and signed a generational C in Tyler Linderbaum, who seems on the fast track to Canton when his career is over. Free agent LG Spencer Burford has looked like the steal of free agency: he came in under Rico, seized the position, and no one has even competed with him. He has been fantastic.

I asked Kirk Cousins about Burford after training camp, and the starting QB made his thoughts very clear.

Spencer Burford | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

"Yeah, he's played a lot of meaningful football in this league. He's a pro. He's competitive in practice every day, and he stays steady, and we're going to ask a lot of them this year. Guards in this league have tough job. They're going up against some real creatures rushing the passers. So, he's got a tough gig…”

RG Jackson Powers-Johnson (JPJ) is playing his best football under Dennison, and while he is in a heated battle to retain his starting RG spot, it isn’t because of anything he has done wrong; it is because of what sophomore Caleb Rogers is doing right.

Las Vegas Raiders IOL Jackson Powers-Johnson | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

I expect that battle to last a while, but the Raiders are already better at that spot.

At RT, Delmar “DJ” Glaze, the Mule, is making it clear that the entire organization needs to look at 2025 as a mulligan, and he has been solid all camp. With Rico as the Pied Piper, the Mule has soaked up everything he said, and while he's still a young player, he is already better and playing well.

Caleb Rogers | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Don’t forget other players on the roster like rookie Trey Zuhn III, who has a football IQ like Linderbaum, and the physical gifts of Brock Bowers; you can see that, while it will be a work in progress, the 2026 offensive line will not be offensive.

Will there be growth pains? Of course. Will the offensive line have its fair share of mistakes? No doubt. But it won’t be directionless, incoherent, or lacking discipline, talent, or general relative ability.

Not being (let’s remain kind) a disaster in 2026 is already an upgrade, and if they stay healthy, they will be respected in the NFL by the end of the 2026 rebuilding year.

Not a finished product, not the 1991 “Hogs” or the 1995 “Great Wall of Dallas,” but respectable and moving up. To go from being, let’s be kind, to respectable and on the rise in 2026 is a major upgrade.

I'm certain of this in 2026.

Fact No. 3: Cohesion, Continuity, Coaching, Complexity, Competency

John Spytek, Mark Davis | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

All five of those words form when I am calling the five C’s of the 2026 Raiders.

From the ownership group to the janitors, every single person in this organization is cohesive and on the same page.

I am not saying, and I don't believe, that anyone associated with this franchise last year set out to sabotage the organization; far from it. The issue was a bunch of good people trying their best, doing it their way, and ending up without cohesion, each pulling in a different direction.

Klint Kubiak | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Not this year.

Last year, you would see the defense do what DC Patrick Graham wanted for short intervals (and it worked), then the head coach tinkered where he didn’t need to, and things failed. No continuity.

An offensive coordinator not on the same page with his head coach, assistant coaches, or players, and play-calling that was a total embarrassment, leaving other NFL franchises asking, “How is that game plan possible?”

Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek and Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The lack of continuity last season was all part of the epic Raiders collapse, and that is gone.

Nick Saban once told me, “If you are allowing something, you are coaching it.”

Last year, coming into the season, the coaching staff had one of the best resumes you could find. It was a disaster.

Mark Davis, Tom Brady — Darrell Craig Harris, ON SI

The 2026 staff, while it doesn’t have a resume close to 2025, has done far more coaching and leading than we saw in 2025. The 2026 staff entering the year might not have last year's resume, but they are, and will be, exponentially better. Multiple young coaches and men in first-time positions will make mistakes.

Learning mistakes are not poor coaching. They are just what I call learning mistakes, and while they will show up in 2026, they will pay dividends as this rebuild moves to the next level in 2027.

Mark Davis | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

While I cannot, and won’t, divulge any secrets that would give an unfair advantage to the Raiders by alerting their opponents to any scheme specifics, what I can tell you is that on offense, defense, and special teams, the complexity of the Kubiak-led 2026 Raiders will be on display, as they realize they are not a finished product.

Several things will try, and even fail, this year. That is the nature of being complex, especially in a rebuilding year with definite holes in either talent or experience on the roster.

Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Nonetheless, the Raiders will come at and attack every opponent in 2026, and while I anticipate double-digit losses, teams will know after a week of game planning that the Silver and Black are not to be taken lightly. They were last year.

From ownership to management to coaches and players, they have sought competent people at every level.

Competency is back. Football people are acting like football people, not desperate individuals grasping at straws, hoping to find answers.

This group knows the answers. Unfortunately for fans, it is hard to hear: 2026 is a rebuild, 2027 is a fill-the-holes-and-get-it-right year, and 2028 is the year you expect to find yourself permanently implanted in the NFL playoffs.

But as intelligent people know, answers aren't always fun to embrace.

I can tell you, from top to bottom, the 2026 Las Vegas Raiders franchise is competent, has a plan, and, as of today, hasn’t shown a lack of intestinal fortitude to see this out. Finally.

Las Vegas Raiders John Spytek | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

I'm certain of this in 2026.

Watch My Latest Podcast on the Team

Add us as a preferred source on Google