Most of the Las Vegas Raiders' young players should get somewhat of a pass for what happened during the 2025 NFL season under Pete Carroll. Not only did many of these players not get adequate in-game opportunities, but they weren't developed properly, either. It was a campaign to throw away.
This is especially true for the players on the offensive line, as Brennan Carroll, the position coach and run game coordinator, was an unmitigated disaster. It was hard to even judge the individual pieces up front because of the mess that was the entire unit last year.
But that doesn't mean that certain players on rookie contracts don't have anything to prove. John Spytek is rapidly adding talent to this roster, and Klint Kubiak is a great teacher. If you don't take coaching well or can't improve on the job, you'll be passed over and eventually replaced.
DJ Glaze is Las Vegas Raiders' X-factor and must answer the call in 2026
Such is the case for someone like DJ Glaze, who wasn't brought in by this regime and has shown a myriad of possibilities for his future. As a rookie, he looked like a potential future anchor. As a sophomore, he looked like he didn't belong on an NFL field at times.
That's why ESPN's Mina Kimes named Glaze her Raiders "X-factor" for the 2026 NFL season.
"For the Raiders, I went with DJ Glaze, the right tackle," Kimes began. "I feel like if Glaze can't take a little bit of a step forward, both Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza will be in trouble. I mean, last season, this team ranked 32nd in yards before contact per carry, 32nd in adjusted line yards, which is the FTM metric that basically, they give responsibility to the offensive line for different runs based on if it's an explosive run, the offensive line doesn't get quite as much credit as if it's a successful power run. And Glaze was not great. He was tied for the third most pressures allowed in football. ... 10 sacks allowed, second most behind Stone Forsythe, (which is) never a player who you want your name in a sentence with. So, anyways, point is, it was a rough season, but I think the hope is with [Kolton] Miller back, with [Tyler] Linderbaum, everybody's going to be better, and they're kind of betting on Glaze taking another leap."
Kimes is right that Glaze, at least by the numbers, was pretty underwhelming last year, to say the least. And the Just Win Podcast hosts, Ted Nguyen and former Raiders offensive tackle Marshall Newhouse, recently broke down his film, if you want to see things from that perspective.
Simply put, Glaze has zero job security heading into the year. He has the most experience of the candidates for the starting right tackle spot, and for that reason, Las Vegas would surely like him to step up and regain the form from his rookie season, in which he was a league average tackle.
If he doesn't, though, then the Raiders will undoubtedly move on from him. Spytek drafted offensive tackle Charles Grant last year, who was already mixing in with the first group at right tackle during Thursday's OTA practices. Grant could easily challenge Glaze for the job.
Trey Zuhn III was also drafted in Round 3 this year, and Kubiak certainly isn't ruling out the possibility of him playing right tackle, either. Glaze has some legitimate competition, and he must step up, or he'll be ast aside by the new regime.
Again, it is hard to hold anything from last year against a young player, particularly someone who was subjected to Brennan Carroll's coaching. But Glaze is certainly the Raiders' X-factor in 2026, and it is a make-or-break campaign for him already in Year 3.
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