One of the most underrated and overlooked position battles at training camp has already gotten off to a scorching hot start for the Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders kicker battle is heating up at training camp as Matt Gay was perfect on all his field goal attempts and Kansei Matsuzawa had one missed field goals from about 40 yards.
The Las Vegas Raiders have position battles going on all over their roster. The quarterback competition between Kirk Cousins, Fernando Mendoza, and Aidan O’Connell is grabbing the national headlines.
But there is a position battle brewing that hasn’t received nearly as much attention outside of the Raiders fan base and the media group covering the team: the kicker competition between Matt Gay and undrafted free agent rookie Kensei Matsuzawa, better known as Tokyo Toe. Both kickers were scorching hot at practice on Friday during the Raiders’ third day of training camp, and this competition already looks like it could go down to the wire.
How does one win a kicker battle?
Throughout training camp, whoever is more consistent and misses the fewest field goals is probably going to end up being the guy. Right now, it feels like Matt Gay has the edge right off the gate. The Raiders signed him in the offseason, and he carries the veteran pedigree of a kicker originally drafted by general manager John Zbitek with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers years ago.
But Tokyo Toe is going to give him a run for his money. A lot of people think the Hawaii product is actually going to win the job because of how Gay has played over the last few years.
This offseason, Las Vegas decided to move on from Daniel Carlson, one of the greatest kickers to ever wear the Raiders uniform statistically. They didn’t want to pay him the money, and instead they went and got Gay, who was a lot cheaper.
In 2025, Gay played for two teams, the Washington Commanders and the San Francisco 49ers. He went 17 for 23 on field goals and 26 for 26 on extra points. The longest field goal he made last season was a 56-yarder. He missed one 30-plus yard attempt and five from 50-plus yards, which isn’t all that unusual. Players miss 50-plus yard field goals all the time. Gay does have a stronger leg than Tokyo Toe, but a lot of people think Tokyo Toe is a lot more accurate.
Friday’s practice told a different story
On Friday, though, accuracy wasn’t an issue for Gay. According to Ryan McFadden of ESPN, who was at practice covering the session, kicker Matt Gay was perfect on all of his field goal attempts, while Tokyo Doe missed a field goal from about 40 yards.
That’s not a big deal. You want to get those misses out of the way in training camp rather than in the middle of the season. But it’s clear this position battle is already off to a hot start. Both guys look dialed in. Both guys look like they could be the starter, and it could go down to the wire unless one of them collapses in the middle of camp.
This is a position battle that will be fun to watch, but you kind of hate that the Raiders have a kicker competition at all. We all know what can happen when you have a bad kicker. You can lose games because of it. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up being that for the Las Vegas Raiders in a season where they really need to double their win total and get back to competing again.