One Area Of The Raiders Offense Is Making A Big Change In 2026
Mike Washington hinted at a big change for the Las Vegas Raiders offense and specifically the running back position in 2026. Head coach Klint Kubiak has Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington playing across the field, behind the line, out wide, and in the slot. Could this change be what sparks a new era with the Raiders offense?
Video Transcript
Raiders fans have endured a lot of pain over the last few years.
And one of the things last year that Raiders fans really went through was having to watch a number six overall pick running back in Ashton Dainty, who just had absolutely no help from his coaches or his teammates.
And they had to sit and struggle through that.
And it feels like in twenty twenty six, that's not going to be the case.
It feels like we're finally going to get to see what Ashton Dainty could really be.
And he's going to have help from the coaching staff and from his backup running back, Mike Washington Jr., who also sounds like he has had a tremendous training camp.
As far as the coaching staff helping him, Mike Washington Jr. Has already laid it out on the table.
He's already let everybody know exactly the kind of things that Clint Kubiak has been doing in training camp.
I mean, look at this.
He said, when he was asked how the running backs are being used in the passing game, he said, whether it's in the slot or having us out wide, he puts us everywhere.
And a lot of these guys like Ashton Dainty can catch.
Mike Washington, he did it.
He wasn't used a whole lot in the past game at Arkansas, but he can catch too.
But Ashton Dainty, we've seen the plays that he had last year.
I think the biggest one that we all remember is against the Houston Texans on the sideline, home run type of play.
And those are just the type of things that he can do.
He, Ashton Dainty is a running back, but he's a playmaker.
You need to get the ball in his hands, whatever, however, however you can do that, get the ball in his hands.
It's kind of like Brock Bowers.
So getting that kind of help from his coaching staff next year is going to be really critical and crucial.
Especially for this offense.
We know that this offense is probably going to be better than last year's.
I mean, we don't know anything, but I think it's easy to say that.
And if Ashton Dainty can be used more, that takes pressure off Brock Bowers.
It takes pressure off the quarterback, whoever that may be, because if he's being, if he's running the ball more or he is a safety blanket in the past game, you know, on little screens or little check downs, whatever that may be putting them in the slot and having them run just a drag, or run to the flat, like whatever it is that Clint Kubiak has, you know, has in store for these running backs, you have to feel that it's going to be extremely efficient.
And we've seen it last year with Seattle Seahawks with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
And at times it didn't look great for Kenneth Walker.
Like I'm not going to lie.
A lot of fans would see Kenneth Walker get the Seahawks all the way down to the red zone just to see him pulled out.
So Zach Charbonnet can get a goal line touch.
And hopefully that's not really the case with, the Raiders, in twenty twenty six.
And obviously they probably don't care as long as they score a touchdown, but you know, we want to see Ashton Dainty gets a little bit of love.
I mean, what he endured last year was not great.
So it's safe to say that we can see him line up in the slot a little bit.
Like Mike Washington said here, it's safe to say that we're going to see Mike, Mike Washington and Ashton Dainty have a lot more help than Dainty had last season.
And that boils down even to the coaching staff.
So, training camp has been great for both of those players.
And it's only a matter of time before we get to see both of them in live action.
And even Thursday, we're going to get to see a little bit of them.
I think we all remember what Ashton Dainty did last season in the preseason games.
He had a few really big plays that kind of put the league on notice of like, okay, this guy is here.
He's here for the longterm.
He's going to be a really good player in the future.
And maybe we see something like that from Mike Washington on Thursday against Arizona Cardinals, who knows, but fans, you should be excited about this running back room and the pairing of that running back room with the coaching staff.
The only question now is how much better is the offensive line in the running game with the addition of Tyler Linderbaum?
All that is going to have to be found out throughout the course of the season, but the season is here.
So
