Raiders sign K Matt Gay

[chucker]

He was great for a couple of years and then fell off a cliff. Probably a cheap deal, and I'd expect some competition for the job from a rookie too.

[Sir Raider Duck, OMS]

Vinny on the radio is saying we are probably drafting a kicker with one of our 4th rounders.

Are any of the kickers in this draft worth a fourth-rounder? They all have Round 7/Priority UDFA grades from what I've read.

[Jeevo]

You'd think Spytek's experiences from the Bucs drafting kickers (including drafting Matt Gay) would have soured him on that concept. I think Vinnie is wrong.

Fourth round does seem quite high, especially when we have two 6ths and a 7th.

[Sir Raider Duck, OMS]

No chance Carlson coming back?

He seemed pretty solid.

Carlson was very mediocre in 2025. Even if we'd brought him back, I would have expected competition at the K position.

[Rabidraider]

Are any of the kickers in this draft worth a fourth-rounder? They all have Round 7/Priority UDFA grades from what I've read.

Kansei Matsuzawa aka Tokyo Toe
(Hawaii) is considered the top 2026 NFL Draft kicker, holding a fourth-round grade and boasting a 93.1% field goal rate with 121 points. Other top prospects for 2026 include Payton Woodring (Georgia), Tate Sandell (Oklahoma), and Dominic Zvada (Michigan)

[Rabidraider]

Carlson was very mediocre in 2025. Even if we'd brought him back, I would have expected competition at the K position.

I think they want to save some cash by not bringing Carlson back.

[raidersince63]

I'm not really worried about kicker in 2026 - I know some are saying our FA class will have us competing in 2026 but I think that's premature. If we lose some games due to kicker woes in 2026, I can live with that. We could throw money at it in 2027 if needed. Or maybe it gets solved cheaply this year and we'll be happy heading into 2027. Kickers are a crapshoot - guys who are absolute money regularly turn to shit without warning.

Kickers? What kickers? We will be scoring nothing but TDs. We'll just need a body for the extra points.

Last year on offense, there were so many instances where we would fly down the field and then stall out at the 15-20 yard line and have to settle for a FG.

FG kickers are obviously a necessity but they should not be expected to win a game for you because the offense did not have the personell to get the job done by scoring a TD.

And chucker, I agree with you about pumping the brakes on the Raiders in 2026. Yeah, we'll certainly be better but this franchise was in such disarray that we now find ourselves in a full rebuild mode, so there's a learning curve and it's gonna take awhile for all of our new acquisitions to all be on the same page as a cohesive unit.

[raiderjohn]

Last year on offense, there were so many instances where we would fly down the field and then stall out at the 15-20 yard line and have to settle for a FG.

FG kickers are obviously a necessity but they should not be expected to win a game for you because the offense did not have the personell to get the job done by scoring a TD.

Yea, but when a game is decided on your kicker making or missing a 45 yard FG.....and if that game determines if you're in the playoffs or not....but from a realistic standpoint if they are saving 2-3M for 2027's cap, then Gay it is.

[raidersince63]

Yea, but when a game is decided on your kicker making or missing a 45 yard FG.....and if that game determines if you're in the playoffs or not....but from a realistic standpoint if they are saving 2-3M for 2027's cap, then Gay it is.

Fair point, but...

[Rabidraider]

Ok, now I want Tokyo Toe, but not with a 4th rounder.

[Raider_Dave]

Ole Miss kicker from the college football playoffs was great. Lucas Carneiro. Looks like he was a JR and has another year.

[Raider_Dave]

4th rounder for this... no way.
"The problem for Matsuzawa is going to be power. He only attempted 2 kicks of 50+ throughout his Hawaii career, which also inflates his field goal percentage. He likely doesn’t have the leg strength to hit 60+ yard field goals like teams currently expect."

He's listed as the #5 kicker here... https://bnbfootball.com/2026-nfl-draft/kicker-rankings/

[3rd and Long]

Wonder if they'll have this guy's jersey at the Raiders Image

[Rabidraider]

4th rounder for this... no way.
"The problem for Matsuzawa is going to be power. He only attempted 2 kicks of 50+ throughout his Hawaii career, which also inflates his field goal percentage. He likely doesn’t have the leg strength to hit 60+ yard field goals like teams currently expect."

He's listed as the #5 kicker here... https://bnbfootball.com/2026-nfl-draft/kicker-rankings/

Maybe it was 50 yard opportunities because:

During his standout 2025 season with the University of Hawaii, he achieved a career-best 52-yard field goal against Fresno State. He also demonstrated his range previously with a 50-yard field goal during his time at Hocking College.

[chucker]

I would expect we'll still bring in some udfas for competition, but Gay will likely be the guy in 2026 unless he clearly loses a competition. He's had some good seasons before so it might work out really well.

[DanKD]

He's a good kicker inside 50 yards, not so much 50+. I'd expect Kubiak to be aggressive if the team is outside the 30