The thick of the 2026 NFL season is upon us, and the Las Vegas Raiders are actually worth talking about! After all, they are 3-0, which puts them atop the league, and they face a fellow undefeated foe in the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 for AFC West supremacy. There is a lot to discuss.
But that also means that, even as a diehard member of Raider Nation, there can be a lot to follow. The most loyal and tuned-in fans can't possibly keep up with everything going on, but that's not your job. It's our job.
So, here is another installment of our news roundup, including John Spytek getting busy in the wide receiver room, a few quick hitters, some injury updates, the best of Klint Kubiak's most recent press conference, and some great Raiders stories from around the internet.
- Raiders make several minor WR moves
- Quick hitters
- Latest injury updates
- Best of Klint Kubiak's press conference
- Great Raiders stories from around the web
Raiders make several minor WR moves
In the two days that followed the Raiders' Week 3 win over the Saints, Spytek made a smattering of not trivial, but let's just call them relatively minor, wide receiver moves. On Monday, they swapped practice squad wideouts, signing Tyler Scott and releasing Ronnie Bell in a corresponding move.
Bell was just signed a few weeks ago after Las Vegas had a huge group of players in for workouts, but he never got elevated for game day, and now his time with the Silver and Black is over. Scott is taking his place, and he's got a handful of minor connections to people already in the building.
Not only was he with the Seattle Seahawks with Kubiak for a brief time last season, but Scott was also a college teammate of Tre Tucker's at Cincinnati for several years. Scott was a fourth-round pick in 2023 and has 18 career catches for 173 yards. He can return kicks, but hasn't played since 2024.
On Tuesday, the Raiders continued their wide receiver reshuffling, putting Jack Bech on the Injured Reserve with a fractured forearm and activating Cody White in his place, which we advocated for following Sunday's game in New Orleans. This was the right and obvious move for Las Vegas.
Spytek also replaced White on the practice squad by bringing back Philip Dorsett II, who seems like a nice veteran presence and must be an incredible asset in the locker room, as he's hung around for two years without adding much, if any, production. Justin Shorter was also waived from the IR.
Quite the collection of minor wide receiver moves, eh?
Quick hitters
Dare Ogunbowale poached
Dare Ogunbowale was poached from the Raiders' practice squad on Tuesday by the Houston Texans. He'll be on their active roster for Week 4's game against the Dallas Cowboys. Ogunbowale had a solid preseason and was a good veteran presence for the running back room, but he's now gone.
Charles Snowden finds new home
Charles Snowden found another NFL home as he signed with the Washington Commanders' practice squad on Tuesday. The expectation is that he will join the active roster soon, but for now, he will be on the practice squad for the NFC East team.
Raiders least-penalized team in NFL
Believe it or not, through three games, Las Vegas is the least penalized team in the league. Technically, they have committed more penalties than a few teams, but they have the fewest yards given up by penalties, which is what matters more anyway. Kudos to Kubiak and his team's discipline.
Las Vegas vs. Kansas City gets big billing
On Sunday, the Raiders will take on the Chiefs in a huge matchup between two 3-0 AFC West squads. But the hype for the game is getting big as well, with CBS putting their No. 1 crew on the game: Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt. This game was chosen over the Broncos and 49ers, who play at the same time.
Latest injury updates
Treydan Stukes missed part of Week 2's game with a concussion and was sidelined during Week 3. But Kubiak told reporters on Monday that he expects to have Stukes back for Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs. That will be a huge for a defense that suffered with Isaiah Pola-Mao in there.
Jackson Powers-Johnson hurt his groin toward the end of Sunday's game against New Orleans, and Kubiak said that he still needed to be evaluated on Monday. Fans should expect an update on Wednesday, as the Raiders will have to announce what his practice status was on the injury report.
Jack Bech was officially placed on IR on Tuesday, and he will be out for at least four weeks. He does have a designation to return, but Las Vegas will rely on Cody White to replace him until the second-year receiver is healthy again.
Best of Klint Kubiak's press conference
Kubiak spoke with the media on Monday to recap Week 3's win vs. the Saints and to start previewing the upcoming matchup against the Chiefs. One of the first things that he did was speak highly of two rookies: Zeke Masses and Mike Washington Jr.
"He's our starting corner, so he's going to be getting their best every week," Kubiak said of Masses.
"Mike [Washington Jr.] made a really big impact on the game and definitely earned more opportunities," Kubiak also said.
When discussing the comeback win down in New Orleans, Kubiak also made it a point to say how proud he was of his team. The first-year head coach noted that he learned a lot about this Raiders squad when their backs were against the wall.
"Well, I think that the number one thing is you don't really get to find out about somebody until the chips are down and their back's against the wall. So, our backs were against the wall yesterday, down two scores. So, we found out a lot about guys' resilience and toughness because everything's fine if you're up two scores at the end of the game. But what do you do when you're down two scores?"
Now, just enjoy this exchange:
Question: What has Mike Sullivan specifically brought to that quarterback room with all the experience, the leadership, and the things that he's seen in the NFL brought to you guys?
Kubiak: "Yeah, experience number one. Been in many quarterback meetings with Mike [Sullivan] going back to the days in Denver, and I learned so much football from him. And now he's pouring into our quarterbacks. Extremely hard worker. Obviously, Coach Sullivan is a former Army Ranger, so he doesn't mess around."
Q: Nobody messes with him?
Kubiak: "I wouldn't."
Q: He does jujitsu too, right?
Kubiak: "Yes."
That's a guy I want molding Fernando Mendoza. Anyway...
Great Raiders stories from around the web
- 1976 Unsung Hero: Tom Flores (Raiders.com)
Paul Gutierrez wrote about how Flores, a two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, Hall of Famer and the franchise's first quarterback, was actually a quiet benefactor for the Raiders' 1976 championship team.
- Seven things Solak thinks entering NFL Week 4 (ESPN)
In this piece, Ben Solak explains that Brock Bowers is essentially the new Jaxon Smith-Njigba for Kubiak. We wrote about how Bowers' role shifted in his first game with a new play-caller, and Solak expanded upon that idea here.
- Ranking all 32 NFL starting QBs after Week 3 (FanSided)
Christopher Kline's latest installment of the NFL's starting quarterbacks has a certain Raiders signal-caller moving up the list...
- The 25 most intimidating Raiders of all time (Just Blog Baby)
Okay, this isn't "around the web" and is a bit of shameless self-promo, but I was proud of the work that I did here to actually rank an impossible collection of the baddest and most intimidating Raiders to ever grace a Silver and Black uniform.
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