Ranking the Raiders' Best 2026 Players: No. 22

The Las Vegas Raiders' 2026 offseason has been filled with notable additions across the board. Las Vegas' roster has thoroughly improved, as has its coaching staff. With Organized Team Activities and mandatory minicamp out of the way, the Raiders are preparing for training camp.

Training camp will mark the latest benchmark for the Raiders in an offseason marked by immense change throughout the organization. Las Vegas faces a pivotal training camp that will raise many questions. However, there is one position group they are more than confident in.

Raiders' Deep Rotation

The Raiders have begun gutting what was one of the league's worst rosters at the end of the 2025 season. Las Vegas has added talent to nearly every position group on the roster this offseason. The players the Raiders recently added are expected to play significant roles moving forward.

Still, Las Vegas plans to lean on several players remaining from prior years to help spark the turnaround they seek. Moving forward, the Raiders will need their homegrown talent to continue developing into contributors, just as they need their veterans to hold up their end of the bargain.

Over the next few weeks, we will rank the top 30 players on the Raiders' roster. There will be no rookies on this list, as it is impossible to make the list with zero regular-season snaps.

Ranking the Raiders: No. 22, IDL Jonah Laulu

Entering his third season in the league, the Las Vegas native has grown into a consistent player whom the Raiders have depended on and will continue to depend on. Last season, Laulu started 15 games for Las Vegas, solidifying himself as a piece the Raiders can work with moving forward.

The Raiders are on their fourth head coach in as many seasons, but one thing each of the most recent regimes has done is prioritize the defensive line. All of their attempts to add talent to the position group failed, yet it remains arguably the deepest on the team.

In several of the past few seasons, the Raiders have kept more defensive linemen than any other position group. Las Vegas has gradually built a solid group of defensive tackles, even if none of them are household names. The defensive line has quietly been one of the Raiders' strengths.

Laulu is a part of the reason why that is the case. The budding interior defensive lineman is set to take the next step this season under Las Vegas' new defensive coordinator, Rob Leonard, who has also been Las Vegas' defensive line coach since Laulu joined the team.

"Yeah, up front it's always important to be deep and be able to rotate. It just is. It's not a crazy, drastic - for the front guys, they're like, 'Hey, I'm an outside shade, an inside shade or head up. I'm a three, a two or a shade.' I don't think for how we teach D-line that it's something drastically different,” Leonard said recently while explaining the importance of the Raiders having a deep rotation of defensive tackles.

“What's my technique? Who am I striking? And then, in terms of 3-4, 4-3, that's just in my mind the edge guys, who's dropping, who's rushing, which is a little bit different, but I don't think the change is as drastic as it may sound if that makes sense."

Last season, Laulu played in nearly 70 percent of the team's defensive snaps and nearly 30 percent of the team's special teams snaps. In just two seasons, Laulu has proven he has the potential to firmly solidify himself in the Raiders' long-term future, which just so happens to be in his hometown.

Laulu's obvious talent at a position of need has presented him with a valuable opportunity in more ways than one. A productive offseason and regular season would go a long way toward ensuring Laulu spends many more seasons in Las Vegas. The Raiders could use his skill set.

Although games are won and lost in the trenches, and defensive linemen are always critical, the position group will become even more critical for Las Vegas as it fully transitions to a 3-4 base defense. This only adds to the opportunity that Laulu has in front of him.

Laulu's 2025 production and ability to play the amount of plays he did, arguably the most physical aspect of the game of football, is noteworthy in itself. Laulu has proven he has staying potential. Moving forward, he must continue to impact the stat sheet and prove he has staying power.

The Raiders are headed in a new direction, one they expect to be much better than the past few seasons. That new direction and the turnaround they seek will largely be built around the versatility of their roster and how they can maximize it.

As Las Vegas continues to revamp its roster, there are certain players, like Laulu, who the Raiders simply cannot move on from. Specifically, Laulu gives Las Vegas a young, moldable talent who can serve as a dependable starter and play significant minutes.

Dependable interior defensive linemen do not grow on trees in the National Football League, but the Raiders have multiple. Laulu must continue to develop at the rate he has been to ensure he reaches his potential. Las Vegas needs what Laulu provides, but he must still produce on Sundays.

So far, it appears that Laulu will continue to do just that, as he is undoubtedly one of the top 30 players on the Raiders' roster in the midst of a rebuild. Laulu simply must continue doing what he has been doing while finding new areas to improve.

It is often said that there is no staying the same in the NFL. A player is either getting worse or getting better. With an improved coaching staff and supporting cast around him, it is fair to believe Laulu will continue to improve. The Raiders certainly hope so. Las Vegas is looking to make major strides in 2026, and Laulu can be a part of that.

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