Levi Edwards
Raiders.com is rolling out its annual place breakdown sequence, previewing each place group within the lead as much as coaching camp. Lastly, a glance into particular groups.
What’s new
The identical strategy is being taken with kicker and lengthy snapper, because the Raiders acquired a rookie and a veteran at every place to compete.
At lengthy snapper, the Silver and Black signedAlex Ward, who performed three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and appeared in 38 video games. The Raiders additionally introduced in UDFATyler Duzanskyfrom Penn State, who led the nation in tackles by an extended snapper (six) in 2023. In his senior season, Duzansky was named a finalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award, given yearly to the very best school soccer lengthy snapper.
Matt Gaysigned in March and is reunited with Joe DeCamillis who was his particular groups coordinator for 2 seasons with the Rams. The kicker goes into his eighth season, splitting 12 video games performed between the Washington Commanders and San Francisco 49ers in 2025. He’s made 84.3% of his area purpose makes an attempt in his profession.
The kicker place is supplemented by UDFAKansei Matsuzawa, nicknamed “The Tokyo Toe.” Hailing from Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan, he wasinspired to turn out to be a kickerafter attending the Raiders’ 2018 season opener towards the Rams. He later enrolled into the University of Hawaii the place he grew to become a consensus All-American and the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in 2025. He went 27-of-29 on area purpose makes an attempt final season and matched the FBS file for consecutive made area targets to begin the season with 25.
“[T]he good thing about having Matt, I’ve been with him before,” Decamillis mentioned, “and Matt’s really helped ‘Special K’ [Kansei Matsuzawa] quite a bit. He’s done a good job as far as getting him squared away with some of his technique and some of that, which is great for an older guy to be able to do, especially when you’re competing for the job.
“But the competitors’s been good. Hopefully, we are able to get Matt again on the identical aircraft that he was after I had him in LA, and I feel Special Okay goes to be actually good too down the street.”
Who’s returning
AJ Coleis the sole returning piece of the Raiders special teams unit.
He’s been regarded as one of the best punters in the league since 2021, with two First-Team All-Pro nods and three Pro Bowl selections. He racked up 24 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2025 and ranked seventh in the league in net punt yardage.
“I feel the rationale that I’ve produced on the sphere the best way I’ve produced is due to the work I’ve put in,” Cole said. “It’s due to the processes I’ve in place. … I feel what’s particular and distinctive is the work that I do, and so that is what retains me going as a result of I need to be good at this recreation for a very very long time, and I feel that is what it is going to take.”
Keep an eye out for…
It’s been a long time since the Raiders had an active competition for long snapper or kicker.
Daniel Carlson was the Silver and Black’s starting kicker for the better part of eight seasons and there were only two different main long snappers in that span. There will certainly be an adjustment period as the coaching staff decides which direction they’ll head into for the 2026 season. It will be interesting to see if they go with the veteran pieces with proven NFL experience, or if either of the two rookie UDFAs earn a spot.
“I feel it has been actually attention-grabbing having rookies round, having Tyler and Kansei round,” Cole said. “We have not had rookies in coaching camp shortly, so it is attention-grabbing for me to have the ability to assist them with their journey. There’s so many issues that you simply take with no consideration having recognized, having performed on this league for just a little bit, and so for me, attending to type of relive my rookie 12 months by means of them just a little bit and get to inform them what my experiences have been like going by means of OTAs and coaching camp, it has been actually enjoyable.”