DJ Glaze has gone from a player Raiders fans were ready to move on from to one who suddenly looks like part of the future in Las Vegas.
That shift has been dramatic. After a rough sophomore season under Brennan Carroll, Glaze drew plenty of heat from Raider Nation, especially because the front office didn’t bring in competition for the right tackle spot.
He gave up 10 sacks, six quarterback hits and 32 hurries last year, and even with a solid first two seasons behind him, many fans wanted him pushed to earn the job. His early training camp work only added to the concern.
Then the season changed. Glaze settled in during the preseason, carried that momentum into 2026, and hasn’t let go of the starting job since. What once looked like a shaky long-term bet at right tackle has turned into a real extension conversation by the end of the year.
The biggest difference is how quiet he’s been. Last season, his mistakes were easy to spot.
This year, the third-year pro out of Maryland has mostly blended into the background in the best possible way, and Kirk Cousins pointed that out after Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. The numbers back it up.
Glaze has played every one of the Raiders’ 542 offensive snaps this season, including 338 in pass protection. In that stretch, he’s allowed just one sack, three quarterback hits and eight hurries.
That sack came back in Week 2, and in true passing sets, he’s down to one fewer hit and one fewer hurry on the season. Put another way, he’s allowing some kind of pressure on just 3.4 percent of Cousins’ true dropbacks, with a sack rate of 0.3 percent through half a season.
ESPN had Glaze tied for the seventh-highest pass-block win rate among NFL offensive tackles before last week’s game, and after he gave up just one hurry against the Jets in Week 8, it’s hard to see that stock falling much. In pass protection, he’s been about as steady as it gets.
The run game is a different story, though it’s not all on him. Glaze still has room to grow as a run-blocker, and there have been snaps where he’s been knocked out of the play. Even so, he’s been better than he was a year ago.
When the Raiders run between the right guard and right tackle, or between the right tackle and a tight end, they’ve gained 100 yards and scored one touchdown on 34 carries, which works out to 2.94 yards per rush. If runs around the right end are included, that jumps to 3.3 yards per carry, with another touchdown, four more first downs and three additional runs of 10 or more yards. Given Las Vegas’ problems at right guard, that picture may be the fairer one.
The broader rushing numbers are modest across the board. On every other rush except sneaks and end-arounds, the Raiders are averaging 3.6 yards per carry.
On runs to the right side, they’re at 3.3. But if the right guard issues are stripped away and the focus stays on off-tackle work, Las Vegas is also sitting at 3.6 per carry.
The rushing environment overall is rough, and Glaze is not the only reason the team hasn’t been popping big runs.
Still, the improvement is real, and it has changed the conversation around his future. As a 2024 draftee, Glaze is eligible for a long-term deal after the 2026 season.
A year ago, he looked like a player the Raiders might eventually replace. Now, Spytek and Kubiak have seen enough potential to stick with him, and Rick Dennison has helped develop him into a much more reliable piece.
That could put him on the path to a new contract.
The top of the right tackle market is near $30 million per year, but Glaze is not in that tier yet. Even so, with Michael Mayer at $15 million per year and Jermaine Eluemunor at $13 million per year, Glaze could land somewhere in the high teens. A deal in the range of three years and $48-$51 million would make sense if Las Vegas wants to move quickly.
The Raiders haven’t extended Tre Tucker yet, which makes the team’s next move a little interesting, but Glaze is a logical candidate if they decide to reward one of their own. He still has to keep this level up the rest of the way, but if he does, a long-term deal after the season wouldn’t be a surprise at all. For a player fans wanted replaced just a few months ago, that would be quite the turnaround.
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