The AFC West is serving up two camp battles with very different flavors, and both are being shaped by young players forcing their way into bigger roles.
In Las Vegas, the most notable shift came on the offensive line Thursday. Jackson Powers-Johnson had been taking most of the first-team snaps at right guard alongside Tyler Linderbaum for weeks, but that changed when second-year lineman Caleb Rogers started mixing in with the starters and Powers-Johnson dropped to the twos. Spencer Burford is still widely viewed as the favorite at left guard, yet head coach Klint Kubiak has made it clear the spots are far from settled.
“The best athlete isn’t the one that’s going to win the job,” Kubiak said. The emphasis, he said, is on consistency and how well a player fits with the other five linemen. Offensive line coach Rick Dennison has been encouraged by how coachable Powers-Johnson has been this offseason, while Rogers said he isn’t worried about the competition and sees the entire room pushing one another.
Denver’s camp storyline has been built around the receiver group. With Jaylen Waddle banged up and Courtland Sutton missing a few days, Pat Bryant has taken advantage of the extra work and turned it into a bigger spotlight. He grabbed another contested touchdown Saturday, battling between two defenders and staying in bounds to finish the play.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was blunt in his evaluation, calling Bryant a complete receiver because of his size, his ability to track the ball downfield and his red-zone threat. He also noted the other side of that equation: all the added snaps for Bryant, Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin have made things tougher on the defense, exactly the kind of pressure that has helped sharpen Pat Surtain II and the rest of the secondary.
There’s movement on Denver’s defensive front, too. Joseph said he feels good about filling the edge-rusher spot left by John Franklin-Myers, with Tyler Onyedim, Sai’vion Jones and a noticeably stronger Enyi Uwazurike all in the mix. Rookie linebacker Red Murdock has also started to come on after a slow adjustment to the mental side of the position, and he forced a fumble Friday.
The two teams are in different places, but the competition theme is the same. The Raiders are still sorting out their best five up front after a rough 2025, and Powers-Johnson needs a strong camp if he wants to keep his job. Denver’s questions are less about who starts and more about who earns the extra targets, while cornerback Riley Moss is also using his contract year to make his case for a new deal.
For now, both camps are letting the battles play out.
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