Paul Gutierrez - Raiders Columnist

Washington captured the unofficial fan favorite title of "Most Intriguing" through the exhibition season with his hard-charging running style and breakaway runs

Six former Raiders came together last week to recall, relive and commemorate the team's Super Bowl XI championship, the first NFL title in franchise history.

The Arbor View High School football team was exhilarated as they'd just taken part in an epic recreation series, representing all 43 Raiders who suited up for Super Bowl XI, to commemorate the 50th anniversary season of the Raiders' first Super Bowl world championship.

Thursday was exactly the kind of night the No. 1 overall draft pick needed for his continued development.

"It's about us; it's about we … so our job is to meet that standard every single day," Rogers said on Upon Further Review.

Joint practices have essentially replaced exhibition games as the true proving grounds during the preseason.

It's a small sample size for Mendoza's debut. One that will grow with two more exhibitions plus a joint practice with the Texans.

¿Una reacción impulsiva ante la primera actuación de Fernando Mendoza como Raider? Será genial ver de qué es capaz con la ofensiva del primer equipo.

"When it comes time to wear the Silver and Black and it's time for game time, I wouldn't call it an alter ego but a switch gets flipped and it's go-time," Johnson said.

Paul Gutierrez joined Davis in his midfield box overseeing practice for a wide-ranging interview to get his take on the Raiders as he goes through his 15th training camp as owner.

A former high school wideout-turned-cornerback, Masses is leveraging ball skills, length and receiver instincts to open eyes in his first NFL camp.

"Definitely it's a full-circle moment," Matsuzawa said. "It's so, like, beautiful. … The Raiders lost the game, but I've been influenced by players, teams and the fans."

Benson's football journeys have taken him from Lansing High School, just outside of Kansas City, to Hutchinson Community College to Alabama to Florida State to Oregon to, yes, Las Vegas as a sixth-round draft pick this spring.

Cousins being the starter entering camp makes all the sense in the world, writes Raiders columnist Paul Gutierrez.

"He's got a real chip on his shoulder. And you feel it. You can feel his intensity," Raiders college scouting director Brandon Yeargan said of the rookie.

"Everybody in the quarterback room is a top-tier quarterback and it's going to be competing with each other, not competing against each other," Mendoza said.

Paul Gutierrez dials in on three special teams storylines to know before camp starts.

McCoy is serving as more than a grizzled sounding board for Klint Kubiak, a head coach for the first time at any level.

An oft-terrifying edge rusher who belies his ability to disrupt a game with an eye for fits and pics, fashion and photography, Kwity Paye is the Raiders' Renaissance man.

The Raiders are under new management, so to speak, and begin a three-day mandatory minicamp at team headquarters on Tuesday.

"I try my best to be available, be out there, be a voice for the O-line each week and just be consistent, man. That's where it all starts," the third-year player said.

"We've got to execute and when the ball's thrown to us - catch, block - good things will happen," Tucker said.

"Obviously I want to help the team win as much as I can, and if I don't have to, I don't want to come off the field," Jeanty said.

The Raiders played host to the third annual Silver & Black Gala on Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium, a power-packed event that raised $2.5 million to help benefit mental health initiatives across Nevada.

"The chance to get to come here, put this shield on, put the Silver and Black on and represent that Commitment to Excellence and that 'Just Win Baby' mentality is something that, as a family, we could not pass up," the Raiders OC said.

Perhaps it's best for the Raiders to lay low, fly under the radar while they get their bearing about themselves with the natural rhythm of a Sunday-to-Sunday beat, writes Raiders.com columnist Paul Gutierrez.

"It's about 'we,' not 'me.' There's just so many people that played a role in where we are," Davis said Friday night.

The inaugural Hispanic Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 was inducted in a Celebración de Fútbol ceremony Tuesday and the entire affair had a certain Silver and Black vibe to it.

After Day 2 of rookie minicamp, one thing became increasingly clear - Mendoza is just one of the guys. With a quirky and endearing sense of humor quickly picked up on by his teammates.

"I have super high expectations of myself and I will exceed those," the Raiders' fourth-round pick said.

"It's a privilege to have him wear my number," Flores said.

A calm, almost a sense of relief, exuded from John Spytek after he turned in the Raiders' draft card, making Fernando Mendoza the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Raiders.com's Paul Gutierrez reflects on the late Rod Martin's career.

Raiders.com's Paul Gutierrez dives into a seven-round mock for the Silver and Black as the 2026 Draft approaches.

While we cannot say for certain who the Raiders will use the No. 1 overall pick on, his name likely rhymes with…Mernando Fendoza.

Gannon sees a certain plan in place when it comes to Cousins signing with his old team. Even if there is some Silver and Black nebulousness regarding Cousins' role with the Raiders after the upcoming draft.

"I'm really impressed with the way John [Spytek] and Klint [Kubiak] are working together, along with John's staff and the coaching staff," Davis said Tuesday at the Annual League Meeting.

What is first-year coach Klint Kubiak's philosophy when it comes to a young QB, should the Raiders draft one? Kubiak was succinct on the topic during his media availability at the NFL Annual Meeting.

"All eyes are fixated towards the draft now," the Raiders GM said at the NFL Annual Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.

After a league-worst 3-14 season, which landed the Raiders the No. 1 overall draft pick, the atmosphere of Thursday's press conference provided a peek into the fresh-start philosophy of the Raiders' new regime.

Armed with $87.8 million in cap space, per Spotrac, the Raiders should mine offensive linemen in free agency.

The Raiders are on the collective minds and lips of the assembled. Owning the No. 1 overall draft pick and having hired a new coach, who is fresh off a Super Bowl victory, tends to do that.

Pro Football Hall of Famers Tom Flores and Ted Hendricks will be inducted into the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class, along with comrade and Super Bowl XV MVP Jim Plunkett.

A who's who of Raiders icons and Hall of Famers flooded the team headquarters Tuesday for Klint Kubiak's introduction to the Silver and Black.

There was no better way to end a bitter season than how the Raiders closed things out on Sunday.

The future begins Sunday, and entering the finale, the Raiders' first-round draft pick hopes to close things out with an even quicker burst.

"He was physical, he was creative, made all the catches. I just thought that was a beautiful game for Mike," said Raiders coach Pete Carroll.

There's a fascination, more than a morbid curiosity, really, about Sunday's shindig between the Raiders and Giants at Allegiant Stadium.

While the final scoreboard showed the Raiders on the wrong end of a 23-21 game at the Texans on Sunday, there were a lot of good things that went down for the Silver and Black inside NRG Stadium.

"Confidence is the only way you can be able to go out there and put up your best performance," Jeanty said this week.

Take a trip with us on the lore of The Muff.

The Raiders were beaten 31-0 by the Eagles in a game that somehow felt worse than the final score.

While Shedrick grew up hearing the lore of Bo Knows and watching the YouTube highlights of his great uncle plowing over hapless defenders when he wasn't sprinting by them, he has always tried to make a name for himself.

"I've always tried to be as prepared as I can be," Kenny Pickett said following the loss to the Broncos.

"He's getting more instinctual," fellow Raiders defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV said of Laulu. "That allows him to play more fluid, and allows him to make more plays because he's seeing things more quickly and he's playing more calm."

Read through for a deeper dive into who Wisniewski is and what made him tick.

The first-team All-Pro tight end could not not even assign a degree of difficulty on the highlight reel one-handed grab he made for a fourth-quarter touchdown in the Raiders' eventual 31-14 loss.

Oly 3.0, as in the third time Olson has assumed the reins as the team's offensive playcaller, has a different feel this time.

No, falling to 2-9 on the season did not officially eliminate the Raiders from the playoff race…yet. But reality has set into a downcast Raiders locker room.

An inside linebacker who was signed midseason to help shore up the Raiders special teams units, Rhattigan has a more wide-ranging description for himself. That of a complete football player.

Spytek's shoes for MCMC portray more than his daughter, who passed away at just 21 months old in 2014 after being born with cytomegalovirus; they represent the National CMV Foundation, co-founded by the Spyteks to raise awareness of the disease.

From playcalling to play execution, the Raiders are a quixotic conundrum when they have the ball.

Having punted for eight different coaches in 13 seasons with the Raiders, Shane Lechler feels a certain kinship, a kind of opportunity at hand for his Silver and Black special teams successors with last week's dismissal of coordinator Tom McMahon.

Costly penalties, dropped passes and missed kicks turned a winnable game into yet another self-inflicted heartbreak in Denver.

Tributes to Carol Davis, the First Lady of Raider Nation, and George Atkinson, the heart of the Soul Patrol secondary, filled Allegiant Stadium on Sunday as part of the Raiders' game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"It's a step up from, obviously, what we did in the past week, but still, not enough. Not close to enough," quarterback Geno Smith said postgame.

If it sounds like the Raiders running back was comparing hitting the hole on the gridiron to hanging loose on a monster wave, well, Shaka, brah.

Seven games in, the Raiders are still in search of an identity. Even as Geno Smith said, they are a "developing young team" in the NFL.

Surely, there was something to be found in the morass of a 31-0 humbling by the Chiefs, already the second time this season the Raiders have been beaten by at least 30 points.

Devin White is having fun playing football again, and it's showing as his 48 tackles lead the team.

Ending a four-game losing streak with a 20-10 victory over the woebegone Titans may or may not have been the get-right win the Raiders deserved, but it was what was required. And for now, they'll take it.

"If we go out and handle our business this week at practice and then go out and have a great game on Sunday, everybody's perspective on us and everybody's mentality just changes," Chinn said. "We just have to continue to take the next step."

How, after such a promising and positive start - that season-opening win at New England seems ages - did the Raiders get here, 1-4 and with each loss more perplexing and deflating than the previous?

The 31-year-old E-Rob is the leader, both spiritually and physically, of the linebacker group.

"I've got confidence in myself in open space against anybody," Jeanty said.

The duo brought to life a certain pride among Latinos in general, Mexican-Americans in particular.

The duo brought to life a certain pride among Latinos in general, Mexican-Americans in particular.

The Raiders have to flush what just happened, but not before gleaning a lesson, or three, from it.

Two games into his second pro season, Dylan Laube is crossing the fine lines with a deftness that belies his small school resume.

While every game in the NFL feels like a season unto itself, the silver lining here is the Raiders still have 15 games to go.