The Las Vegas Raiders have been flooded with issues during the 2025 NFL season. While the team expected to have some holes in the roster heading into the year, nobody could have predicted that All-Pro kicker Daniel Carlson would be one of them. Yet, his production has fallen off a cliff.
After starting the year fine, Carlson had his game-winning kick blocked in the final seconds of Week 4, and things cascaded from there. In Week 9, he missed an extra point that ultimately decided the game, and in Week 10, he missed a game-tying 48-yarder with just over 4 minutes left.
Raider Nation, understandably, has grown frustrated with Carlson. If not for these three miscues, Las Vegas could reasonably be sitting at 5-4 right now. At the same time, this fan base knows what Carlson is capable of, as he's shown it for seven seasons.
Daniel Carlson must tap into the last Raiders-Cowboys to find his footing
After last Thursday's game, Carroll fired special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, who has worked with Carlson since 2022, when he had a First-Team All-Pro campaign. On Monday, Carroll spoke to the media and was asked, given his struggles and McMahon's firing, where Carlson's head is at.
"Well, he's trying to get right. He wants to do right by his team, and he wants to get clear. He's well-versed on the mentality of how you do that; the preparation in the practice to get your mind clear so that you can perform like you're capable," Carroll said. "When (the misses) stack up on you after some time, you know you have to deal with it directly. So we're addressing that right now."
Part of the way that the Raiders addressed this issue was by signing another kicker to the practice squad, Greg Joseph. In typical Pete Carroll fashion, the veteran head coach told reporters that Carlson will have to compete for his job.
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Well, with his back up against the wall, there may be no better team for Carlson to get his mojo back against than the Dallas Cowboys. Luckily, that is exactly who Las Vegas will host at Allegiant Stadium on Monday Night Football to finish off the NFL's Week 11 slate.
Carlson has only faced off against the Cowboys once in his eight-year NFL career, but it was a defining game for him. In a standalone Thanksgiving contest back in 2021, Carlson nailed all five of his field goal attempts against Dallas, including a 56-yarder and a game-winner in overtime.
The Raiders were on a three-game losing streak at the time and desperately needed a jolt, and Carlson provided just that. This week, Las Vegas is also riding a three-game losing streak and is in desperate need of a jolt once again. They'll be facing the Cowboys in a standalone game.
It's amazing how similar these two stories are, and hopefully for Carlson and the fan base, they have similar endings. The veteran kicker needs to get his juice back, and if he can just tap into the last time that he played Dallas, he should quiet all notions about his needing to be replaced in 2026, or sooner.