The Las Vegas Raiders got two TD catches from Cody White, who's a complete unknown.
The Las Vegas Raiders had a new star receiver in Sunday’s 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and he was an unfamiliar name, even for some of the most ardent Raiders fans. But Cody White had a productive day, to say the least, with two touchdown catches from quarterback Kirk Cousins in the win, and it’s safe to say he came out of nowhere.
White is a Klint Kubiak guy, as the receiver played for the Raiders coach when Kubiak was the offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks. But White just joined the Raiders on Aug. 31 as a practice squad player, per Paul Gutierrez of Raiders.com, and he didn’t start practicing with the team until a few days after that.
Both of his touchdown catches were red zone throws. The first came in the third quarter from 11 yards out to put Las Vegas up 17-14, with the second coming shortly after that in the fourth quarter as the Raiders pulled away at 24-14.
White has made his mark as a special teams player, as that’s where he’s played most of his snaps until recently. He did have a touchdown-saving tackle of Jaylen Wright in the Raiders’ opening win over the Miami Dolphins, per Gutierrez, and that tackle resulted in a missed 41-yard field goal attempt.
So who is Cody White beyond that? He’s 27, and White played in collegiately at Michigan State. He joined Seattle as a practice squad player in 2023 and didn’t play at all. White made the active roster in 2024 and got in four games, but didn’t register any tackles. Last year he played in ten games with Seattle and played 165 offensive snaps to go wtih 117 special teams snaps.
White became more visible last year, with three receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown. He also had four kick returns for 106 yards, and he had a 60-yard touchdown against the Washington Commanders.
What happened yesterday is that White basically filled a vacuum. Kubiak hasn’t been happy with the Raiders receivers at all, but yesterday Tre Tucker showed out by catching a couple of deep balls. Receivers like Jack Bech haven’t been productive, so White just stepped up and filled a gap when Tucker got more attention.
Whether this continues or not is anyone’s guess. Tight end Brock Bowers is still day-to-day, but that gap may still be there, and against the Chargers White was the player who stepped up and filled it.
