It was but a mere glimpse, but what an encouraging view of Klint Kubiak's Las Vegas Raiders offense in the preseason opener, no?
A mix of both efficiency and staples of the Kubiak scheme, the Silver & Black's head coach and offensive play caller provided a window into what he's cooking up this season in Las Vegas' 27-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals this past Thursday.
The opening drive showcases the ever-efficient Kirk Cousins in the driver seat as the veteran quarterback and looking sharp pacing a 10-play, 68-yard touchdown drive. Behind an offensive line that kept him clean and comfortable, Cousins went 5-of-6 for 50 yards with his touchdown pass going to tight end Michael Mayer. It was a script featuring the heavy personnel packages — multiple tight ends — a (gasp!) fullback in Connor Heyward, pre-snap motions, and balanced air and ground attacks.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, of course. And Kubiak — a rookie head coach — admitted as much in the post-game press conference.
"I think the thing that stands out to me, analytically or not, is our penalties. We really hurt ourselves," the Raiders head coach said. "We put ourselves in some negative situations, and that's not winning football. Offensively, the fact that we didn't turn the ball over is always good. That's something that didn't stand out last night, but offensively, you can't go into a half a football and not score points. So, we didn't help the defense there. We weren't playing team football in that second half."
With the initial preseason tilt in the box and two more left on slate before Week 1 of the regular season, let's dive into the candidates to lead the Raiders in scoring in 2026. Las Vegas finished dead last in the league in terms of points scored (241 total) and yards gained (4,168 total), so the bar is set quite low for Kubiak. There's a high likelihood his offense won't finish 32nd out of the 32 teams, though. So let's take a look at who led the team in points in 2025 before jumping into this coming season:
By The Numbers Raiders 2025 Scoring Leaders
No. 1:Daniel Carlson, kicker, 87 points
No. 2:Ashton Jeanty, running back, 60 points
No. 3:Brock Bowers, tight end, 44 points
No. 4:Tre Tucker, wide receiver, 30 points
No. 5:Shedrick Jackson, wide receiver, 6 points
Let's get this out of the way first and foremost: The winner of the Raiders' kicking competition between grizzled veteran Matt Gay and undrafted free agent Kansei Matsuzawa will lead the Silver & Black in scoring this coming season. With Gay being steady in training camp practices and the Tokyo Toe having issues in both said camp sessions and hitting the upright on his lone field goal attempt in the preseason opener, the veteran has the edge. There's still plenty of practices and two more exhibition slates before Week 1, however.
Come to think of it, I'll just hedge things here: Whomever is the Raiders' place kicker come Week 1 will be the scoring leader this coming season.
The reason why kickers pace NFL teams in scoring is due to the fac they handle both extra points and field goals giving them the supreme advantage to stockpile points. That sole credit is the key as an extra point counts as one point and field goals count for three points. That high volume is often unmatched by other skill positions. As you can see from the Top 5 above, Carlson paced Las Vegas' scoring summary.
With the obvious out of the way, let's look at the other four that'll are likely to lead the Raiders in scoring:
No. 2:Jeanty
No. 3:Bowers
No. 4:Michael Mayer, tight end
No. 5:Jalen Nailor, wide receiver
While Jeanty didn't eclipse 1,000-yards rushing as a rookie last season, he did find the end zone a total of 10 times — five on the ground and five more through the air. Kubiak spoke about maximizing Jeanty in his offense and if that does ring true, expect the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to be an active ball carrier and pass catcher this coming season. A similar 10-touchdown total or more means eclipsing the 60 total points he put up as a rookie.
"Like we talked about earlier, the more that we can do, the better it's going to be. He goes out there every single day in special teams period and he's working all the routes and trying to get better," Raiders running backs coach Omar Young said of Jeanty. "I know he talked about that as being one of his goals in the offseason to go attack that process of being a better route runner."
Then there's Bowers who is having a terrific training camp and is at a clean bill of health heading into Year 3 at just 23 years old (the tight end turns 24 on December 13). Hauling in seven touchdowns in 2025 as the de facto WR1 for Las Vegas, the expectation is Bowers will once again be the top option in Kubiak's aerial attack this coming season. Able to line up as a traditional in-line tight end, in the slot, or even on the perimeter as a boundary receiver, the Georgia product has the size, route running, and speed to be a complete nightmare for opposing defenses.
That all said, I wouldn't be surprised if Bowers tops Jeanty in terms of points scored in 2026. Bowers' seven touchdowns and a two-point conversion gave him 44 last year and having more in Kubiak's offense is highly plausible.
"Brock is highly, highly intelligent football player. He's such a natural player and a sneaky player. Some people were born to play football, and I think he was one of them," Raiders tight end coach Luke Steckel said of his unicorn tight end. "I think you could put a blindfold on him, and he'd find a way to get open. He just has such a great feel for space out there versus zone coverage. He's got great release plans versus man-to-man when they want to come down and press him. But it all starts with the mental aspect, like you're alluding to. He's an extremely smart player, but he also puts in the work. He studies all night, all morning."
Fellow tight end Mayer is a sneaky player himself as he has size to be a blocker but surprising speed and soft hands to be a trusted target in the red zone. While he's only hauled in three touchdowns in his first three years in the league, Mayer heads into the final leg of his rookie contract and has all the skills that Kubiak seeks in his tight ends. And with the coach loving multiple tight end sets, the 25-year-old Notre Dame product has a chance to have his most productive season since being taken in the second round (35th overall) of the 2023 draft.
Lastly, Nailor. While a plenty of projections have Tucker finishing in the Top 5 of points scored for the Raiders in 2026 — he did have five touchdowns last season — Nailor, a free agent-addition from the Minnesota Vikings has an opportunity to become a trusted target in Las Vegas. The 5-foot-11 and 199-pound Nevada native offers speed from both the slot and outside and hauled in four touchdowns in 2025 and, before that, six in 2024. A heady route runner that can create separation quickly, the 27-year-old can excel as both a deep threat and red zone nuisance.
