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Raiders special teams a mixed bag through 3 games

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: At least the Las Vegas Raiders special teams unit is holding up its end of the bargain.

Even in the darkest and ugliest seasons in Silver & Black history, you can count on a stellar season performance from … a Raiders punter. Through the first three games of the 2025 campaign, Las Vegas’ punter AJ Cole III and kicker Daniel Carlson are their usual productive selves.

But the rest of Tom McMahon’s special teams unit is a mixed bag.

While the pair of kicking specialists are executing their respective roles, the Raiders return and coverage units are a work in progress. And Las Vegas’ 41-24 defeat at the hands of the Washington Commanders this past Sunday highlight just how much work the Raiders truly have in that regard.

The group simply faltered — badly.

Behold, Commanders fleet-footed rookie Jaylin Lane taking advantage of a fundamentally bad punt coverage unit as the fourth-round pick put his foot in the grass and sprinted past the Raiders:

When asked specifically about what he thinks the issues plaguing special teams, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll took a holistic viewpoint.

“Well, I go back to the whole team, and that’s why this is my responsibility. The whole team, fundamentally, did not play well,” Carroll began during his Monday press conference. “I’m going to give it to Danny (Washington head coach Dan Quinn) too, I thought his team played exceedingly well in all phases. Larry Izzo, their special teams coach, used to be our special teams coach. He got those guys ready to go, and they whipped us on the returns. And so, it’s a hard game, but I’m going to take it.

“I have to do a better job of getting these guys ready to go in the matchups that we have regardless, and it showed up on special teams quite, quite clearly. Fundamentals just being low and leverage and attack and defending blocks and beating the blockers on our coverage, all of that. And it was the too many big plays that lead them to an easy win for them.”

Washington opened the game with 69-yard kickoff return from wide receiver Deebo Samuel as reserve Las Vegas safety Tristen McCollum was able to to chase down the Commanders wideout for the stop on the Raiders’ 27-yard line. Just five plays later, Washington scored first — a two-yard touchdown run by quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Samuel’s long return was the first of many special teams coverage miscues from Las Vegas.

Lane housing that punt 90 yards blew the game wide open giving the Commanders a commanding 27-10 lead in the third quarter. In total, the Virginia Tech product galloped for 127 yards on five punt returns boasting a robust 25.4 yards per return average that’s bolstered by the distance on his touchdown return.

One of his returns was an electric 25-yard sprint where he was rocked by Raiders tight end Michael Mayer. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, Mayer suffered a concussion on the play. And his absence on both offense and special teams hurt the Silver & Black as the injury occurred at the tail end of the first quarter.

Through the first three games, Carlson is ranked 12th amongst his contemporaries in field goals attempted with seven. Semantically, he’s tied fourth as there’s a glut of kickers with similar numbers — The Indianapolis Colts’ Spencer Schrader and the Tennessee Titans’ Joey Slye lead the group with 12 attempts, a piece.

Carlson has made six of those seven attempts and his 85.7 percent conversion rate is just above the league average of 83 percent. His longest make is from 54 yards with his lone miss coming from 50-plus yards out.

Carlson also has 14 kickoffs under his belt with two resulting in touchbacks.

Cole, on the other hand, is ranked seventh amongst punters with 13 total punts. Semantically, he’s tied fourth due to a glut of punters having similar attempts. The Minnesota Vikings’ Ryan Wright paces all punters with 16 boots through three games.

Cole’s 50.5 yards per boot average puts him seventh overall. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Ryan Rehkow leads all punters with a gaudy 54.0 yards per punt average. Of Cole’s 13 punts, two have been touchbacks while one has dropped within the opponent’s 20-yard line. The Denver Broncos’ Jeremy Crawshaw has no touchbacks and nine of his 13 punts have landed inside the opponent’s 20 for a league-leading 69.2 percentage in pinning the opposition.

Las Vegas kick and punt return game is bottom tier at this point of the young season.

Running back Zamir White paces the kick return group with six returns for 149 yards (a long of 31 yards). That places White No. 21 overall amongst return men in terms of yards — the Titans’ Chimere Dike leads the league with 389 kick return yards on 15 attempts (long of 71 yards).

Fellow tailback and return man Dylan Laube, has fielded five kickoffs for 125 yards (long of 34). That puts him at No. 35 overall.

The New England Patriots’ Antonio Gibson has the longest return — a 90-yard touchdown on the year so far.

Punt return wise, wide receiver Tre Tucker is the Raiders option and he’s only fielded four punts for a total of 38 yards (long of 15). That’s good for 22nd overall with Lane pacing the field with 177 total yards on 10 punt returns (and a touchdown). The Seahawks’ Tory Horton has the longest punt return on record — a 95-yard touchdown.

While Cole holds a respectable 50.5 average per boot mark, his net yardage (the average minus return yards) has him down to 35.9, which is well under the 40.6 net yardage average in the league. That’s due to the Raiders’ punt return coverage unit yielding a league-high 150 return yards.

The New Orleans Saints are right behind allowing 145 punt return yards. The two teams in the league that haven’t allowed a single yard on punt returns: The Colts and Baltimore Ravens. The New York Giants limit opponents to six return yards, so far.

Flip it over to the kick return coverage group, and Las Vegas holds a healthier ranking of fifth-least yardage allowed at 776 total. The stingiest team in kickoff yards: The Cleveland Browns who’ve allowed 662 total. And the team allowing most kickoff return yards: The Buffalo Bills yielding 1,218.