The Las Vegas Raiders are almost at the point where the talking stops and the real evaluation begins.
After an offseason the team believes has pushed it forward in plenty of places, Las Vegas has now locked in the dates for its training camp open practices. Rookies report on July 23, veterans arrive on July 28, and the first chance for fans to watch comes soon after.
The Raiders will hold open practices at team headquarters on August 2, August 3, August 7, and August 8 at 7:30 a.m. PT, then finish with an open session at Allegiant Stadium on August 11 at 6 p.m.
PT.
That schedule gives Raiders fans their first real look at the 2026 team, but it also signals something bigger: camp is where the offseason optimism has to become something tangible.
Las Vegas enters this stretch with cautious momentum and a new head coach in Klint Kubiak, who has made it clear that what happens now matters far more than what has happened in workouts without pads. He said, "We're an improved team.
Our guys have taken the coaching. They're doing everything we ask them to do.
I definitely see an improvement from where we started, and this time of year, you can kind of get lulled to sleep when the pads aren't on. So, what team that we're going to become, we'll find out come training camp when we put pads on,” Kubiak said.
He followed that up by stressing how quickly appearances can change once the season gets closer. “There's so many guys that are maybe doing great right now that will disappear come the fall.
There's so many guys that you maybe not notice as much, but all of a sudden, whether it's a running back or an offensive lineman or defensive lineman, now that guy really shows his value. So, you get what you can out of this time of year, and then the real evaluation comes with those 11 practices before we play that first preseason game."
The Raiders are also trying to make sure the work they’ve done doesn’t fade during the gap between mandatory minicamp and camp. Kubiak said that stretch can undo a lot if players don’t stay locked in.
“You can ruin an offseason with 40 days away. You put all that work in this time of year, if you go post up on the couch, all that work is for naught.
So, 40 days away, you got to be really self-motivated, and we're not going to be with them every day,” Kubiak said.
He added that the personnel moves matter here too, pointing to John Spytek’s role in bringing in players who will keep themselves ready. “We'll be in contact with them, and then that's where, to me, that Mr.
[John] Spytek, his job comes into play, because he brought in a lot of quality individuals that are self-motivated. If you don't have self-motivated guys, you have no idea what's coming once they come into training camp.
So, I feel really confident that we have a self-motivated group."
That confidence is rooted in a broader belief around the organization that this offseason has been handled the right way. The Raiders have tried to be deliberate at every turn, and the front office believes the roster and coaching staff are in better shape than they’ve been in recent years. But the franchise has also lived through enough false starts to know that offseason progress only counts so much until Sundays arrive.
Las Vegas has won just seven games combined over the past two seasons, and the last few years have been defined by coaching changes, roster swings, and long losing streaks. The Raiders dropped 10 straight in each of the last two seasons, which is exactly why training camp carries extra weight now. They do not need to prove everything in August, but they do need to show that the foundation is real.
For now, the clearest thing is that the Raiders have put themselves in position to be better than they were. Whether that turns into an actual step forward will be decided once the pads come on and the practices start to tell the truth.
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