Ranking the Raiders' Top 30 2026 Players: No. 15

After years of subpar football and disappointing results, the Las Vegas Raiders are hoping to turn the page in 2026 and beyond. That will require them to continue making moves like they have this offseason in future offseasons. However, it will require much more than that.

From revamping their coaching staff to adding talent to the roster, the Raiders' plan for improvement this offseason focused on several areas. Las Vegas' quest to fix the flaws plaguing its coaching staff and roster in recent years is more than underway.

Raiders' Approach

Las Vegas' front office has produced one of the best offseasons it has had all-around in quite some time. The many new additions to their coaching staff and roster were major steps the Raiders needed to take to improve this upcoming season, but there are other parts to the plan as well.

The Raiders have taken an even-keeled approach to nearly every facet of this offseason. Essentially, every move the Raiders made this offseason made sense on some level. This has largely become the norm under general manager John Spytek in his two seasons at the helm.

However, after a 3-14 campaign in the 2025 season, Spytek and the Raiders had no time to sit on their hands as they entered a pivotal 2026 offseason and regular season. Las Vegas has added the talent to at least be a more competitive football team.

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' Top 30 2026 Players: No. 15 Thomas Booker IV

The moves the Raiders have made this offseason and the results of last regular season can make it easy to overlook the fact that Spytek made a solid move last offseason by trading Jakorian Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Thomas Booker IV.

Few moves the Raiders have made lately have worked out as well as the trade for Booker. Through multiple general managers and head coaches, Las Vegas has spent years building its defensive line. Booker has quietly been one of the ways they have done so.

Booker played more in Las Vegas than he ever did, as the Raiders had a need along the interior defensive line that the Eagles did not. In his first season with Las Vegas, Booker appeared in all 17 games. He started in 13 of those games, after registering two starts in two seasons prior.

Booker was on the field for over half of the Raiders' defensive snaps and nearly 20 percent of their special teams snaps. He is one of the best players on the Raiders' 2026 roster. Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard explained the importance of having a deep rotation of defensive linemen.

“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 earlier this offseason.

“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."

Las Vegas' roster rebuild will be based on their new additions and on several players already on the roster, like Booker. The Raiders are looking to turn things around just as much on defense as they are on offense, after years of failing to play complementary football.

Leonard spent the past three seasons as the team's defensive coordinator and has years of experience around the league, serving in other capacities. He knows just what he is looking for from the defense he is now in charge of getting the most out of.

"Style of play, man. I'm going to coach the defense like I coach the D-line. I still do the same things I do. Not going one-for-one, attacking the ball, effort in pursuit. We start there, but that's always got to stick out, and a product on the field that you know what it looks like. Klint [Kubiak] always talks about our silent tape,” Leonard said.

“I always feel like if my wife can point it out, like, 'Hey, that's a good job,' everybody knows what it should look like, but today, the theme was clean operation, great substitution, great communication, aligned with the speed brakes, like all those little things outside of the scheme are how things come to life, and that's been fun to see."

Leonard knows what he wants, and as of now, it seems like Booker has a place in the team's plans moving forward. In his lone season with the team, Booker has shown he has the potential to be an asset, yet how much of an asset remains to be seen.

Football games are won and lost along the line of scrimmage. Competent starting offensive and defensive linemen are hard to come by. Las Vegas could very well have one in Booker, but it will take a strong 2026 from Booker to help solidify that, as one season is not enough of a sample size.

Booker's potential is undeniable. However, the Raiders are brimming with untapped potential. They need the likes of Booker and others to continue to excel on the field under a new coaching staff, while being surrounded by a better supporting cast than last season.

Las Vegas appears to be on the right track at the moment. In just a few weeks, training camp will give a much better idea of just how far Booker and the rest of the Raiders' defense have come since the end of the 2025 season.

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