The Raiders’ kicking situation has become the kind of camp storyline that can quietly turn into a real problem fast. Right now, Matt Gay is sitting atop the depth chart over rookie UDFA Kansei Matsuzawa, but neither guy has seized the job, and that leaves Las Vegas with an uncomfortable possibility: Daniel Carlson could wind up back in the mix.
Carlson’s run with the Raiders was a good one for a long time. The Auburn product didn’t have the biggest leg in the league, but he built a reputation as reliable, steady and deadly when it mattered, earning the “Cash Money Carlson” tag along the way.
That’s why his recent decline mattered, and why the Raiders’ decision to move on this offseason lined up with the analytics. But the replacement plan hasn’t exactly settled anyone’s nerves.
Through the first stretch of camp, reports out of Las Vegas have painted a messy picture. Gay has been the first-team kicker, and he’s had a couple of spotless practices, including one where he drilled a 52-yarder.
Outside of that, though, the consistency just hasn’t been there. Early in camp, he missed from 52 yards.
More recently, he missed from 35 yards, though that one caught the narrow crossbar, and he also missed from 40 yards in a live practice at Allegiant Stadium. A miss from the 23-yard line is the kind of thing that jumps off the page in the wrong way.
Matsuzawa hasn’t exactly made a forceful case either. He has missed from 35 yards, 38 yards, and three times from 40 yards.
He’s also come up short from 55 and 62 yards, which only adds to the concern about his leg strength. At the same time, he has shown some upside by knocking in kicks from 52 and 57 yards, and he turned in a perfect session on the narrow crossbar.
Still, the misses on routine attempts are hard to ignore.
That’s the crux of it: Gay is the front-runner, and that part makes sense because Matsuzawa still needs time to develop. Gay also comes in with familiarity with John Spytek and special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis from previous stops. But familiarity only goes so far if the kicking itself isn’t good enough to lock the job down.
Carlson’s own 2025 season wasn’t pretty by his standards. He hit just 81.5% of his kicks, though that came in a sample of only 27 attempts, and a few of those were blocked, which doesn’t really land on him. He also ended the 2025 NFL season by drilling a game-winning 60-yarder on the final play.
It might feel strange for the Raiders to circle back after letting him walk in free agency, but Carlson still needs a home, and nothing has materialized for him yet. If Las Vegas were to call, he’d surely answer.
Preseason will matter a lot in sorting this out. If Gay and Matsuzawa keep leaving the door open, the Raiders may have to keep the light on for an old friend.
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