The Las Vegas Raiders had a very impressive draft class, which drew praise from several pundits. While they held the No. 1 overall pick and used it to make the obvious selection of Fernando Mendoza, what they were able to accomplish on Days 2 and 3 was equally impressive.
Las Vegas filled, virtually, all of its needs while loading the roster with talented players who are also great athletes. General manager John Spytek was not done adding talent, however, as he has been very active in targeting undrafted free agents.
It had been widely known that the Raiders would look to bring in a kicker to compete with free agent addition Matt Gay for the starting role. They did just that on Saturday, as they signed Hawaii's Kansei Matsuzawa, who was a consensus All-American in 2025.
Las Vegas Raiders bring in Kansei Matsuzawa to compete with Matt Gay
Matsuzawa, better known as "The Tokyo Toe", gained notoriety in the final season of his college career. He tied an FBS record with 25 consecutive made field goals to open the season, establishing himself as one of the top kickers in the nation.
Stephen Tsai of the Star-Advertiser shared that Matsuzawa was signing a three-year deal with the Raiders.
". @HawaiiFootball kicker Kansei Matsuzawa agrees to 3-year free-agent contract with @Raiders , per agent @AgentBardia . Matsuzawa reports to mini camp next week. #HawaiiFootball @StarAdvertiser"
Matsuzawa has had one of the most untraditional paths to the NFL of any player in recent memory. Born in Japan, he visited the United States to attend a Raiders game against the Los Angeles Rams at the age of 19 in 2018.
He believed his best route to reaching the NFL was as a kicker, and he taught himself how to play the position by watching videos on YouTube. He resurfaced three years later for the Hocking Hawks, a junior college team.
In 2023, he transferred to the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, however, he did not play that season. Over the past two years, he has converted 39 of his 45 field goal attempts and all 72 extra point attempts, establishing himself as one of college football's top kicker.
Matsuzawa is attempting to become the first Japanese national to reach the NFL, which would be quite the accomplishment. He will look to beat out Gay for the starting job in Las Vegas.
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