Raiders.com is rolling out its annual position breakdown series, previewing every position group in the lead up to training camp. Lastly, a look into special teams.

What's new

The same approach is being taken with kicker and long snapper, as the Raiders acquired a rookie and a veteran at each position to compete.

At long snapper, the Silver and Black signed Alex Ward, who played three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and appeared in 38 games. The Raiders also brought in UDFA Tyler Duzansky from Penn State, who led the nation in tackles by a long snapper (six) in 2023. In his senior season, Duzansky was named a finalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award, given annually to the best college football long snapper.

Matt Gay signed in March and is reunited with Joe DeCamillis who was his special teams coordinator for two seasons with the Rams. The kicker is going into his eighth season, splitting 12 games played between the Washington Commanders and San Francisco 49ers in 2025. He's made 84.3% of his field goal attempts in his career.

The kicker position is supplemented by UDFA Kansei Matsuzawa, nicknamed "The Tokyo Toe." Hailing from Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan, he was inspired to become a kicker after attending the Raiders' 2018 season opener against the Rams. He later enrolled into the University of Hawaii where he became a consensus All-American and the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in 2025. He went 27-of-29 on field goal attempts last season and matched the FBS record for consecutive made field goals to start the season with 25.

"[T]he good thing about having Matt, I've been with him before," Decamillis said, "and Matt's really helped 'Special K' [Kansei Matsuzawa] quite a bit. He's done a good job as far as getting him squared away with some of his technique and some of that, which is great for an older guy to be able to do, especially when you're competing for the job.

"But the competition's been good. Hopefully, we can get Matt back on the same plane that he was when I had him in LA, and I think Special K is going to be really good too down the road."

Who's returning

AJ Cole is the sole returning piece of the Raiders special teams unit.

He's been regarded as one of the best punters in the league since 2021, with two First-Team All-Pro nods and three Pro Bowl selections. He racked up 24 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2025 and ranked seventh in the league in net punt yardage.

"I think the reason that I've produced on the field the way I've produced is because of the work I've put in," Cole said. "It's because of the processes I have in place. ... I think what's special and unique is the work that I do, and so that's what keeps me going because I want to be good at this game for a really long time, and I think that's what it's going to take."

Keep an eye out for...

It's been a long time since the Raiders had an active competition for long snapper or kicker.

Daniel Carlson was the Silver and Black's starting kicker for the better part of eight seasons and there were only two different main long snappers in that span. There will certainly be an adjustment period as the coaching staff decides which direction they'll head into for the 2026 season. It will be interesting to see if they go with the veteran pieces with proven NFL experience, or if either of the two rookie UDFAs earn a spot.

"I think it's been really interesting having rookies around, having Tyler and Kansei around," Cole said. "We haven't had rookies in training camp in a while, so it's interesting for me to be able to help them with their journey. There's so many things that you take for granted having known, having played in this league for a little bit, and so for me, getting to kind of relive my rookie year through them a little bit and get to tell them what my experiences were like going through OTAs and training camp, it's been really fun."