News Raiders Team Notes

[Las Vegas Raiders]

Raiders 2025: Daniel Carlson wants more action, less touchbacks

Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson (2) eyes the flight of his kickoff against the Denver Broncos last season. If it were up to Carlson, he’d put the ball in play more often with the NFL rule change. | Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

If Las Vegas kicker had his way, there’d be less touchbacks and more action on kickoffs

While he didn’t hit us with that classic “I’m just ‘bout that action, boss” line from Marshawn Lynch, Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson is indeed ‘bout that action.

Because, if it were up the the Silver & Black’s place kicker, touchbacks would become rare as his kickoffs would put the ball in play.

With the NFL tweaking the kickoff rule this offseason, it’s no surprise to hear Carlson feel this way. The league advanced the touchback dead ball spot from the 30- to the 35-yard line in hopes of creating more action and excitement in the kick return game.

The hope is the 32 teams are a bit more hesitant to boom the ball into or out of the end zone as the opposing offense gets to start at the 35-yard line.

“As far as kickoffs go, obviously we are going to see a lot less touchbacks. We did experiment a lot and last year was a learning period, so I think now it’s just continuing that and playing a lot more ball, which is exciting for specials teams guys and exciting for me,” Carlson said when asked about how the kickoff rule changes his approach, after one of the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp sessions this past Tuesday. “I think it’s going to be a great play and hopefully we’ll see a lot of exciting returns on our side when we do get a chance to return and then a lot of good kicks and coverage on our side as well.”

#Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson on the rule changes and how it’s changed his preparation pic.twitter.com/EVsAi7oPCU

— Heidi Fang (@HeidiFang) June 10, 2025​

Last season, Carlson compiled 80 kickoffs and of that sum, 51 were touchbacks. The 63.8 percent touchback ratio put the Raiders’ kicker under the league average. Detroit Lions’ kicker Jake Bates paced the league with 110 kickoffs and an impressive 85 touchbacks. The Buffalo Bills’ Tyler Bass was next with 103 kickoffs and 75 touchbacks — for reference.

Advancing the ball to the 35 on touchback has potential to severely wane the 2024 touchbacks in 2025. Of course, there’s likely to be an overzealous squad out there that has utmost belief in its defense and having the opposition start at the 35 will be scoffed at.

But for the Raiders, a team that needs a defensive resurgence under new head coach Pete Carroll, being strategic and putting the ball in play seems more apt.

For Carlson, the mentality has shifted from kicking it far and high on kickoffs. Hangtime was king but no, placement and precision is the focus. Which means going back to his soccer roots for the 30-year-old boot specialist.

“You don’t want to necessarily just kick it straight to the returner or anything like that. So, there’s just a little bit of reliance on the feel of my old days of soccer,” Carlson said. “And you’ve seen guys do it last year, where different teams did different things. So, we’ll see what happens this year. Some teams may just kick it and cover and some teams might even hit touchbacks. We’ll have to find out.”

"Everybody wants to be the returner. Everybody wants to cover kicks. Because production is, and it should be, where you make the money in this league." - #Raiders ST coordinator Tom McMahon pic.twitter.com/ucxT40Zz9S

— Paul Gutierrez (@PaulHGutierrez) June 10, 2025​

Carlson, who seeks a return to accurate form after going 34-for-40 (85 percent) in 2024 on field goals, wants to become a precise and reliable kickoff specialist to join his effective ways booting the ball through the uprights. (For reference: Carlson is fifth on the all-time field goal percentage list with a lifetime 87.5 percent mark over the course of his seven seasons int he league.)

And it was only natural Carlson fielded a question regarding the kickoff method affecting his overall kicking stroke on field goals.

“Yeah, it’s definitely something I have to adjust to because your used to just kind of having one ball where you kick high, far and straight, that’s the goal. It doesn’t really matter how quickly it gets there; you’re trying to make it hard for the returner to catch,” Carlson explained. “So, it’s a fun, different part of the game where, like I said, I’m a little more reliant on a soccer style kick almost.

“But obviously field goals, for me, that’s still the priority, because at the end of the day that’s what can make or break games a lot of times. But at the same time, I want to be one of the best in the league at that kickoff part. I want to be effective because it’s not fun if we just start kicking touchbacks or something like that. I don’t think that brings any value to my team, and so it’s my job to dominate that as well.”

Carlson is all too aware that his foresight and wants are at the mercy of a grueling 17-game regular season. Tom McMahon’s special teams unit did practice a variety of ways of approaching the kickoff and getting creative, but over the course of the 2024 campaign, with kick returns reaching the 30-yard line and touchback dead balls being at the 30, teams simply decided to blast the ball into or out of the end zone to save wear and tear on the roster during kickoffs.

With the ball being advanced five more yards, perhaps we shall see the Silver & Black’s creativity in 2025.

“The thing is though, the more hang time you put on that ball, the better chance that that returner has to get under it. We can’t go naturally until the ball hits inside the 20, between 20 and the goal line,” McMahon began. “So, if you can get what’s called a ‘Head Start ball’; so if you’re the 20 and I’m the goal line, if we can get a ball on the ground at the 11 that I can’t get to, we’re going to get a head start on it.

“And so, if I actually get it off the ground at the five until I get back to the 11, the hang time for us hasn’t stopped yet, because we’re going when that ball hit at the 11, until he gets back to the 11, we’re not giving up any free yardage. So, a lot of guys are doing that. That’s why you’re seeing everybody in the league work those line drives. We’re trying to hit line drives at people.”

"You could probably buy a house”…

Ashton Jeanty on what it cost to get that #2 jersey from Daniel Carlson

@AshtonJeanty2 #raiders #raidernation @PaniniAmerica pic.twitter.com/P2uvl1LfvC

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) May 20, 2025​

Source: https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2025/6/15/24448648/raiders-2025-daniel-carlson-kickoffs

 

[Las Vegas Raiders]

Can you guess this Raiders running back in today’s in-5 trivia game?

Think you can figure out which Raiders player we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out in our new guessing game!

Hey Raiders fans! We’re back for another day of the Silver & Black Pride in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in the Google Form.

Today’s Silver & Black Pride in-5 game​

If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article.

Previous games​

Saturday, June 14, 2025
Friday, June 13, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025

Play more SB Nation in-5 trivia games​

NFL in-5
MLB in-5
MMA in-5

Silver and Black Pride in-5 instructions​

The goal of the game is to guess the correct Raiders player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED PLAYERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We won’t go into other details about the game as we’d like your feedback on it. How it plays, what you think of it, the difficulty level, and anything else you can think of that will help us improve this game. You can provide feedback in the comments of this article, or you can fill out this Google Form.

Enjoy!

Source: https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2025/6/15/24449592/sb-nation-raiders-daily-trivia-in-5

 

[Las Vegas Raiders]

Raiders 2025: Marcus Robertson’s, Joe Woods’ coaching ability vital for secondary

This isn’t defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson’s first go-around with the Raiders. He was the DB coach with the Oakland Raiders back in 2016. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Pair of veteran defensive backs coaches key to shaping up young defensive backs group in Las Vegas

With the oldest cornerback and safety being 27 and 29 years old, respectively, the Las Vegas Raiders secondary is a young group overall.

It’s a group of 12 defensive backs that are 25 years of age and under and the unit in total numbers 17. Of course, that sum will dwindle in due time. The Silver & Black’s roster, like the other 31 teams in the NFL, are at the bloated 90-man limit. Come cut-down day to the 53-man roster, swaths of released and waived players will hit the open market.

But the timespan between that fateful day and offseason workouts and training camp in mid-July, we’ll get to see just how vital defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson and pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Joe Woods are to the secondary.

Both didn’t need a sell job on the Raiders’ mystique as Robertson and Woods are no stranger to being on the Silver & Black coaching staff. Both spent time with the Oakland variant — Robertson from 2015-16 and Woods in 2014 — and their respective paths have crossed three separate times amongst a trio of different teams. Most recently, the duo of Robertson and Woods were the New Orleans Saints defensive backs and defensive coordinator, respectively, from 2023-24.

Now, they’re back together on head coach Pete Carroll’s coaching staff to coach and develop Las Vegas’ secondary.

“I believe I’ve got a vast knowledge of the game. I also think my 12 years of experience being on the grass has played a very vital part in not only my relationship with players but getting them to understand and see things and feel things,” Robertson told Raiders.com during a Q&A session back in April. “I try to do the best I possibly can not to put our players in positions where I myself would be uncomfortable. I’ve seen a ton of football. I’ve played a ton of football. I always tell my players, you’re going to learn to trust me. For me, alignment, assignment, technique, finish, all those types of things. I think over a period of time if you continue to rep them, they become like second nature. No different from a guy getting up every day and driving to work.”

#Raiders DB coach Marcus Robertson who comes to LV from NO:

• Gifted rookie CB Darien Porter 'taking big leaps' learning position
• 'Hoping to mimic' success of Carroll's Legion of Boom
• 'You can feel the culture changing' under new regime
• CB Jakorian Bennett 'mastering… pic.twitter.com/iOK1HN4wVZ

— Nick Walters (@nickwalt) May 28, 2025​

“It’s really just knowledge,” Woods said in a similar team Q&A back in April. “I mean, with every team you’ve been on, with every different type of guy you coach, with every system that you’ve been in, the game experiences, the adjustments you had to make, your personal interactions and dealings with different players, I just feel like you grow. You get more experience and you know how to handle different situations based on things you’ve dealt with in the past.”

Having the experience and knowledge is one thing. Being able to impart that onto players under your charge for tangible development and growth is a whole different beast. And how well Robertson and Woods do that, to help cornerbacks and safeties not only learn the scheme that Carroll and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham are installing this offseason, but to have success in it over the course of the 2025 year and beyond, is paramount.

Veteran safeties Jeremy Chinn (heading into his sixth season in the NFL at age 27) and Isaiah Pola-Mao (heading into his fourth year at age 25) along with veteran cornerbacks Jakorian Bennett (heading in his third season at age 24), Eric Stokes (fifth year at age 26), and Darnay Holmes (sixth year, age 26) are being leaned upon to pace a group that features intriguing young talent.

For example, the Raiders drafted Darien Porter (24 years old) in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft and also have last year’s fourth-round pick Decamerion Richardson (24) in tow. There’s also undrafted free agent (but ballhawk) Mello Dotson at the position group. Flip to safety, there’s second-year players Thomas Harper (24) and Trey Taylor (24) with veteran Lonnie Johnson Jr. (29) also in the group.

“It’s a lot of competition, but that’s what’s going to make everybody better,” Bennett said after Las Vegas’ mandatory minicamp sessions last Tuesday. “We got Stokes, D-Cam, DP (Darien Porter), Kyu (Blu Kelly), Sam (Webb), all them boys, everybody’s good, everybody’s nice. So it makes you have to go out here when you on the practice field to just give it all you got and just leave it out on the field.”

#Raiders pass game coordinator, DB coach Joe Woods:

• 'A lot of good guys' in new-look secondary
• Versatile S Jeremy Chinn a 'chess piece'
• 'Sky's the limit' for rookie CB Darien Porter
• CBs Jakorian Bennett, Decamerion Richardson show 'eagerness to learn'
• 'We have the… pic.twitter.com/zw2PnCv1oT

— Nick Walters (@nickwalt) May 28, 2025​

Maximizing the return on investment in drafted players, undrafted free agents, and veteran free agents is going to be a solid test of Robertson’s and Woods’ career progression.

Carroll harkens about open competition for his roster and we’re likely going to see quite the flux as players get looks and snaps as the Raiders embark on finding the best 53 to fill the regular-season roster, along with practice squad candidates.

It’s a triple whammy, really, when it comes to Robertson, Woods, and Carroll. All three have deep experience developing secondaries and when the 73-year-old head coach who has cut his teeth in the NFL 31 years gives you nuggets of wisdom, you take it.

“I’ve never had a head coach really hands on with the DBs, so it’s different for me,” Pola-Mao said of Carroll after the team’s session last Wednesday. “But I love it. And at the same time, Pete’s legendary. Learning from him, he’s seen it and he’s done it, so he knows what it’s supposed to look like. I’m just learning, listening and trying to take it all in.”

Pola-Mao, who is expected to either earn one of the starting safety spots or get substantial snaps, is tag teaming with Chinn to be the experienced backend defenders of the group. Both Chinn and Pola-Moa give the Raiders two tall and big safeties at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds and 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, respectively. And the latter, an undrafted free agent out of USC, is glad to have the former in the defensive backfield.

“Like I take pride in knowing exactly where everybody’s supposed to be and I try to put everybody in the right position, make sure everybody’s on the same page,” Pola-Mao said. “So, I think a little bit of a vocal leader, but I also give that to Chinn because he’s going to be more of the guy that’s getting everybody hyped up and we’re going to kind of follow his lead.”

The Raiders have several starting spots up for grabs not only in the secondary, but across the roster. And coaches like Robertson and Woods will have a big hand in determining the starters.

The results will, eventually, speak for themselves — for better or worse.

Source: https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2025/6/16/24448656/raiders-2025-defensive-backs-marcus-robertson