‘It’s all open for business’ – Raiders position coach keeps it real on the mentality of his players
The Las Vegas Raiders have a very talented and competitive wide receiver room heading into the 2026 season.
The Las Vegas Raiders have a very, very young wide receiver room. Their veteran, Jakobi Meyers, was dealt to the Jaguars at the trade deadline, and now Jalen Nailor is that veteran to a bunch of guys on their first contracts.
This is easily the biggest wildcard on the Raiders roster. No one really knows what will happen. Will the second-year players step up and become real guys at the position? Or, will it be obvious that they need to address the position again in next year’s draft? No one knows, but it’s clear that the room is already making an impression at OTAs.
According to Sam Warren of The Athletic, the Raiders’ new wide receiver coach, Zach Azzani, said there isn’t much ego in his position group. The group consists of a ton of young guys, so that’s great to hear. Warren also reported that Azzani said there are no established roles and “it’s all open for business.” He added there’s been a lot of competition because players “know everything matters, every day is an interview.” What more can you ask of your room, though?
The Raiders will likely rely on Jalen Nailor to be their wide receiver one
The three-year, $35 million deal makes Nailor the 34th-highest-paid WR in the league by APY. So, the Raiders clearly believe that Nailor can be a low-end WR1 or high-end WR2.
On 49 targets in 2025, Nailor had just one drop, something that neither he nor Jefferson is known for. When you see the kind of consistency every day from Jefferson, it eventually rubs off on you, and Nailor had a heck of a season, one that was underrated in a way where not many know just how good he was. The yards and touchdowns don’t tell the whole story, even though Nailor did, in fact, lead the Vikings in touchdowns.
Nailor is one of the best WRs in the league at getting first downs, whether it’s after the catch or at the sticks. According to Sports Info Solutions, Nailor had the league’s eighth-best first-down percentage at 79.3%. Nailor was also 24th in average depth of target and 22nd in average depth of completion, two stats that really show how much work the receiver is doing every play and a good metric for seeing just how important a receiver is to his team.
Despite being the third guy behind Jefferson and Jordan Addison, he’s in the upper echelon in advanced stats. There are 32 WR1s in the league. Nailor was a WR3 but has advanced stats that place him in the top 24 receivers in the league, despite not having an elite yards metric, as he had just over 440 yards in 2025. Nailor can be the guy in this offense. There are some comparisons to be drawn between him and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. No one is saying he will be that good, but it’s starting to feel like that’s how Kubiak could view him in this offense.