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Peruse a needs list for the Las Vegas Raiders and the top two areas of focus are routinely quarterback and offensive line — and for good reason.
The Silver & Black’s quandary at the game’s most important position is well-documented as signal caller is a misadventure. Then there’s the group in front of said quarterback that was the Achilles heel of Pete Carroll’s football team last season. Of course, Carroll has no one to blame but himself for those shenanigans as he was the head coach who hired his son Brennan to lead a group that he had no business doing so.
And, as they say, the proof was in the pudding — moldy and pungent as it could be.
While the question of what do the Raiders do at quarterback and offensive line have potential answers on the horizon — namely using the first-overall pick on Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and both cap space and draft capital for reinforcements in the trenches — it’s good to hear new head coach Klint Kubiak also talk the backfield. Specifically the running back and — much to my glee — fullback positions.
The Raiders new lead man and offensive play caller knows he has a bell cow-type in second-year tailback Ashton Jeanty and is well-aware of what the sixth-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft brings to the table.
“He’s a three-down back, so he should be able to help you in multiple ways,” Kubiak said during his media session at the NFL Scouting Combine last week. “Run the football, catching it, protecting — if you’re going to be on the field on all three downs you have to be able to do all three of those, and he has that. I really liked diving into his rookie season.”
Kubiak also readily admits while Jeanty is plenty capable, having a complementary running back on the roster to spell the workhorse is mission critical.
“We definitely want to have a two-man show, guys that can share the load,” Kubiak said. “It’s a long season. You don’t want to put all the carries and targets on one guy. So right now we’re identifying guys that are available in the draft, identifying free agents we might go after, looking at our own roster and seeing who can share that. It’s important that Jeanty has a wingman.”
In Jeanty’s rookie season, there was no such wingman. While Las Vegas did have running backs Raheem Mostert, Zamir White, and Dylan Laube on the roster, compared to Jeanty’s 266 carries, that aforementioned trio combined for 41 total carries. Mostert, 34 in April, had the most with 22 carries while White notched 12 and Laube seven. Mostert and White are upcoming unrestricted free agents while Laube heads into Year 3 as a sixth-round pick (208th overall) in the 2024 draft.
Unless general manager John Spytek and Kubiak are confident they can recapture White’s 2023 form (104 carries for 451 yards and a touchdown) and re-sign the fourth-round pick (122nd overall) from the 2022 draft, Jeanty is likely going to have new backfield mates.
Free agency is up first with the legal tampering period opening on Monday, March 9. And the sexiest name on the open market is Kenneth Walker III, who was Kubiak’s running back as Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator. The 25-year-old second-round pick (41st overall) in the 2022 draft galloped for 1,027 yards and five touchdowns on 221 carries this past season and was a determined runner in Seattle’s Super Bowl run. Walker is going to command a pretty penny on the open market, though.
Over The Cap has an annual average salary valuation of $6.281 million while Spotrac has a much higher $9 million annual average salary market value for the Walker.
Or, the Raiders could go to the Spytek well and nab Rachaad White in free agency. The 27-year-old third-round pick (91st overall) in the 2022 draft was taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Spytek was the vice president of player personnel in Tampa at the time) and rushed for 572 yards and four touchdowns on 132 carries while adding 218 yards on 40 receptions this past season for the Bucs.
Then there’s the draft in April giving the Raiders even more opportunity to find a complementary back to help keep Jeanty fresh and add another wrinkle for the opposing defense to account for.
While a prospect like Norte Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is likely to be out of reach for Las Vegas — he’s projected to be a Top 10, if not Top 15 selection in the 2026 draft — his teammate Jadarian Price may be within range. There’s also talented tailbacks in Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr. (who blazed a 4.33 40 time at the combine), Washington’s Jonah Coleman, and Wake Forest’s Demond Claiborne (4.37 40).
Price didn’t showcase much three-down usage, how could you with a talent like Love in front of you, but was a great teammate and complementary back in the Fighting Irish backfield. Washington, meanwhile, brings good size and electric speed to be a lethal outside runner or screen/swing pass receiver.
Coleman is compact but has the contact balance and decisiveness that will remind folk of Jeanty as a runner/receiver. And Claiborne is a slash-type runner who can produce explosive runs and provide a jolt to a team’s run game as a change-of-pace/complementary option.
While Kubiak is confident he can get Jeanty and the offensive line rolling, adding more talent at running back, quarterback, and in the trenches is a must-do.
“He’s going to be a major building block of our offense, but his success will be because the offensive line is blocking well, our second back is running well, the quarterback is making good decisions — we want to bring the best out of Jeanty, but that comes with the team playing well. He has all of the tools to be successful,” Kubiak said of his starting running back.
And it’ll be good to see an old-school traditional position back in the Raiders’ fold with Kubiak at the helm. The lack of a fullback in Las Vegas the last two seasons is mind boggling considering the team went decades by fielding one.
And adding a fullback to the roster is something Kubiak is seeking to do.
“It is important,” the Raiders coach said of the position in his system. “You have to find the right guy, and if you can find that guy, then he becomes a big part of your offense.
“They are harder to find. So that’s the fun part right now, especially in the draft, is seeing who is available and who we can develop. Free agent-wise as well. I’d love to play with a fullback, but you have to play with your best 11. So we’re going to be on the lookout for one for sure.”