5 Raiders Offensive Players Entering Their NFL Money Year

HENDERSON, Nev.—The 2026 Las Vegas Raiders are just 36 days from the start of their NFL Training Camp, and it is one of the most closely watched and scrutinized rebuilds in NFL history.

Fact From Reality

KLINT KUBIAK | DARRELL CRAIG HARRIS, ON SI

Youth abounds on this roster, on which I have projected a minimum of eight and as many as 12 rookies to make the team’s final 53-man roster.

That youth has to be cultivated and grown, so despite that youth's talent, there will be losses as they learn the NFL game.

Money Year

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

There is a term commonly used around the NFL: a player’s third year is called the “Money year.” Unless a player makes it clear that they don’t belong in the league, teams will show patience with young men, but they expect that during the third year, they will prove they are worth the money, patience, and investment as they go from guys on the roster to significant players and contributors.

Entering the 2026 campaign, the Silver and Black presently have 11 players entering their money seasons, and all of them have something to prove. With five on offense and six on defense, we will discuss the offense today and the defense on Tuesday.

The Offense

Brock Bowers, TE

Brock Bowers is a generational talent who is already the best tight end in the NFL. The league’s best at his position is arguably one of the league’s best people off the gridiron, and with finally having stability in the franchise and certainty in game planning and QB play, Bowers is poised for another magical season, only this year, he won’t be the only one on his team.

With three years left under contract, once Bowers and the Raiders sit down to structure a long-term deal, he will reset the position and become the highest-paid TE in NFL history.

Delmar “DJ” Glaze, The Mule, RT

On a team full of high-character men, Glaze is not one to be ignored. He had an exceptional rookie campaign, only to have it wasted by dysfunction and collapse within the organization above him in 2025. Perhaps no player in 2025 suffered more than Glaze (Nicknamed by Zamir White and me for his sure-footedness) and penciled in as the starting RT.

Klint Kubiak’s addition of the best OL coach in the NFL, Rick Dennison, was nothing short of a blessing. Dennison is sure to love a student who loves the game, can take coaching, and has a pure joy of life and an appreciation for the position he is in. Putting 2025 behind him, an increase from 2024, and a further developed skill should set him up for a lucrative second NFL deal.

Dylan Laube, RB

Dylan Laube is not a big man, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in heart. Cut from the same cloth as the mythical Rocky Balboa, this young man refuses to let his NFL dreams die. Fueled by a genuine love for the game of football, and a work ethic that is certainly cut from the white quartz sand of his hometown, West Hampton, New York.

Last year, one of the staff members, when I asked about Laube in the offseason, didn’t know his name. They did once the pads came on, and he is the kind of Swiss Army Knife that Klint Kubiak is certainly thinking about as camp approaches. Laube is a role player, but he represents Raider Nation as the true people’s player. Every year he is in the league is good not only for him but also for the organization.

The next time anyone in this organization says something bad about him, it will be the first time, and he is impossible not to root for.

Jackson Powers-Johnson, IOL

JPJ is a unique player. He can be hot-tempered, undisciplined, and even at times his own worst enemy. But don’t equate that with me not believing in him or thinking he can’t play at a very high level in the NFL. That said, this training camp is going to be a daily battle for him and his Raiders' future. He is going to have to learn to channel his emotions (like Maxx Crosby) and show the discipline that has been lacking more than once during his time in the desert.

The Raiders' starting guard position is perhaps the toughest battle for a spot on this team, and the pressure will be intense. If JPJ doesn’t win the role, or perhaps wins the spot, but it is close, other teams have an interest in him. He has been overlooked before and proved doubters wrong, and no one on the roster is under a bigger microscope than he is in training camp. JPJ can do it, but this money season, he has to show it.

Brandon Johnson, WR

This is the money year for Johnson, who has had a winding career in the NFL, spending time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Denver Broncos. He has a wide-open chance to make this team, and of the above-mentioned players, perhaps none has their NFL future on the line more than he. Highly talented, he has to put it together on day one of training camp because failing to make it with the Silver and Black could be the final nail in his NFL dreams. He isn’t here as a charity case; he can play, but there are no more chances for him.

He has to prove it every rep, every second, and every day of camp.

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