The Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins will square off during Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season after having vastly different offseasons.
The Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins will engage in battle on the first Sunday of the 2026 National Football League season in what might be a lopsided affair.
Both of these teams struggled mightily in 2025, with the Raiders walking away with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft (Fernando Mendoza) and the Dolphins missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
But they had vastly different offseasons, making Las Vegas heavy favorites to knock off Miami.
The Raiders made upgrades up and down the roster as well as bringing in a new head coach, one that is inexperienced in that role but is one of the brightest offensive minds in football. The Dolphins, on the other hand, are returning just one starter on the offense that was there a season ago (De’Von Achane) and are projected to be one of the worst teams in the league.
Unfortunately, the Raiders will be without their top star, All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers. Bowers underwent a knee procedure a few days ago and is expected to miss at least one or two games.
But fortunately, the Raiders should be able to beat the Dolphins without Bowers purely based on the other talent on the team, including star running back Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty had an injury scare during practice a few weeks ago but is set to play on Sunday, which should ease the tension of not having their top pass-catcher. Jeanty won’t be the only running back that sees a sizable workload in this game for Las Vegas, though.
The emergence of Mike Washington Jr. in training camp and the preseason will allow Jeanty to not be overworked in the early going and they may form a nice tandem this season.
“With that said, expect the Raiders to lean heavily on the RB duo of Jeanty and rookie Mike Washington Jr,” ESPN’s Ryan McFadden wrote Friday. “Controlling the pace of play through their rushing attack will be essential to pulling off a victory at home.”
Las Vegas should be able to outmatch the Dolphins offensively, so it will come down to which defense has more success stopping the run. Achane and quarterback Malik Willis will run the ball a ton and will handle most of the touches in most games, but Las Vegas’ defense got enough of an upgrade in free agency and through the draft that they should be able to keep it together.
I believe the Raiders will uphold their standing as the favorites to win, likely handily.
