Mike Washington Jr. made his first preseason game of 2026 count for the Las Vegas Raiders, running for 63 yards on six carries and breaking loose for a 53-yard run in the second quarter. The fourth-round pick gave an early look at the kind of burst that can change a drive in one snap.
That matters because the Raiders did not draft him to be a plodder between the tackles. Klint Kubiak wants to get Washington Jr. in space, and the first preseason test showed why: when he finds a crease, he can turn a routine carry into a long gain before the defense gets set. For a backfield that also includes Ashton Jeanty, that kind of playmaking is the easiest way to force a coaching staff to think about how touches should be divided.
The usage was also revealing. Of Washington Jr.'s six carries, three came on wide zone or toss plays, while the rest were gap scheme runs or duo. That split is no accident. Kubiak prefers wide zone, but Washington Jr. came out of Arkansas, where he ran a gap scheme primarily. The Raiders are already trying to blend those two worlds, asking a back built in one system to win in another without losing the violence or the vision that made him a draft target.
That is the real question now. The explosive run answers what Washington Jr. can do in space. It does not fully answer how often he will get that space once the games count, or how much of that role he shares with Jeanty. But after one preseason outing, the blueprint is clear enough: if Washington Jr. keeps turning six carries into 63 yards, the Raiders will have to keep finding ways to feed him.
