Maxx Crosby apparently gave Rob Leonard a game ball after Sunday's 27-13 victory. That feels appropriate after the Las Vegas Raiders' defensive coordinator stifled the Miami Dolphins' offensive attack in his first real game as a play-caller. More work can be done, but this was a great start.
One stat always matters more than the others: points. And the Raiders are going to win a lot of games if they relinquish just 13 of them, as they did in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season. But it wasn't just the bottom line that was impressive; Leonard and the defense did a lot of little things that mean a lot.
"He's been excellent throughout this entire journey, from April until now. You can definitely see how hard the guys want to play for him," Klint Kubiak told reporters on Monday. "His staff works extremely hard. I thought on Sunday they worked extremely well together, and the defense played hard."
For his unit's overall effort, we'll give Leonard a "B" grade. But there is plenty of room for growth with him and his young unit full of new pieces.
Raiders' Rob Leonard earns "B" grade for opening day showing vs. Dolphins
In a few words, the Raiders' defense controlled the ballgame. Even without the crutch of Maxx Crosby playing every single snap, Las Vegas frequently pressured Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis, and it made the ground attack, led by Pro Bowler De'Von Achane, a complete non-factor.
All told, the Raiders pressured Willis on 27 of his 37 dropbacks, which is staggering on its own, but they also brought down the mobile quarterback five times for a loss of 35 yards and hit him 11 total times. Crosby and Kwity Paye were both dominant, but it was a well-rounded effort by the front.
A good deal of that success can be attributed to the way that Leonard utilized his pieces. Not only did he use Paye effectively in multiple roles, but he did the same with Tonka Hemingway and Quay Walker, and he had some fun wrinkles and blitzes to throw in, much to the dismay of the Dolphins.
Paye was lined up as an interior player on many throwing downs, as he was in a 4- or 4i-technique over the offensive tackle with an edge rusher lined up outside of him. In running situations, he lined up on the outside of the tackle in more of a 5- or 6i-technique.
This allowed the Raiders to have more juice getting after the quarterback when Willis was obviously throwing, but Las Vegas also didn't lose any run-stopping ability when it was a clear running down. Leonard did a similar thing with Hemingway, but with the opposite goal in mind.
For Walker, that looked like him playing basically as an outside linebacker on 13 snaps while Tommy Eichenberg took his spot in the box. Leonard did this on occasion with Dean as well, and also put both players in the slot while constantly interchanging the pieces in the secondary.
With so much movement and versatility going on from the Raiders' side of things, the Dolphins couldn't keep up. And then Leonard threw in blitzes on 24.0% of the plays, which wasn't an exceptionally high rate, but was twice as high as last year's defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham.
It was refreshing to see some exotic looks.
Leonard also had some well-timed blitzes and smartly picked on a rookie left guard, Kadyn Proctor, on a stunt, and both of those resulted in stops at pivotal junctures for the Silver and Black. From a personnel and schematic standpoint, the Raiders fared quite well, for the most part.
In terms of their attitude and approach, it was noticeable how much this group flew toward the ball. Las Vegas swarmed and completely stifled the Miami rushing attack, limiting them to just 74 yards on the ground. Achane, again, was a non-factor, despite being one of the NFL's best in 2025.
Getting two takeaways was also huge for Leonard's group, as they picked off a deep pass, and punched the ball out and fell on it. Forcing turnovers, getting pressure and gang tackling were not in the recipe last year, but they are a staple in 2026 under Leonard, it seems.
Why Raiders' Rob Leonard didn't get an "A" in opener vs. Dolphins
While Leonard's group played very well in an overall sense, they were not without their miscues. Several times, it looked like the secondary got its wires crossed and gave up a big completion. Rookie Caleb Douglas had a good day for Miami, notching 5 catches for 94 yards, which is not ideal.
Dean gave up a big play across the middle, and Eric Stokes and Treydan Stukes clearly had a miscommunication, which led to a sizeable completion and set up a field goal near the half. On several other plays, their coverage was a bit leaky, or defensive backs didn't turn their heads quite in time.
Las Vegas also gave up contain on Willis a few times, and on one of them, he scrambled for a touchdown. The Raiders also missed 10 tackles, which isn't an alarming number, but that's certainly above what Leonard and Co. want.
Against better opponents, that stuff will come back to bite them. And if we're being honest, the Dolphins really aren't all that formidable a foe; at least they don't seem to be. So, Leonard's crew needs to tighten up before they face a string of much better opponents.
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