The Raiders did some wheeling and dealing on days 2 and 3 of the 2026 draft, and one of their most aggressive moves was a move up from pick 134 (to 122) to take University of Arkansas running back Mike Washington Jr.
Washington was obviously a player John Spytek didn’t want to miss, and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, the Raiders were intent on getting one of three running backs in the first two days of the draft.
“They had high grades on all three of these running backs,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast on Saturday. “They wanted to come out with one of these three… Jadarian Price, the running back out of Notre Dame. They really, really liked him. Had he slipped to the second round, I very much believe they would have absolutely pulled the trigger on him in the second round… The Raiders loved him,”
“There were three [running backs] they had all grouped at a very high level. They wanted to get one of these three. Now, they did have them valued one, two, and three, but one of those three, and they would have been very pleased. The other one was Kaelon Black, the Indiana running back. They really liked him. He [was drafted] in the third round… and so he goes in the third round… They believed there was a chance for Jadarian and a chance for Kaelon Black. They thought that it may work out if Jadarian didn’t slip, Kaelon would.”
“They thought… that Mike Washington would have went a lot higher than where he went,” Carpenter continued. “[The] Raiders picked him at pick 122 [in the] fourth round. I can tell you right now, they had a second round grade on Washington. They loved him. They loved Price. They loved Kaelon Black. They loved Mike Washington and… he is fast. He is a wrecking ball and when you look at the one-two punch of him and Ashton Jeanty… and remember that’s the Klint Kubiak way.”
“Klint Kubiak does not want a one back system. Klint Kubiak isn’t desirous of a one back system. He’s got Ashton Jeanty and he’s not going to wear out all the tread on the tires. You’re going to see Washington play a lot. This kid is a great running back.”
The narrative after just about every draft is that teams were surprised they were able to get the players they drafted, but this year the Raiders made it clear they weren’t willing to wait on a few players to fall to them.
With Washington in Las Vegas, Kubiak will be looking to build a running back by committee with the Raiders similar to what he had in Seattle with Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.
Most draft analysts projected Washington to be drafted before day 3 of the draft…
NFL Media Lance Zierlein projected Washington to be drafted in the second or third round of the draft and said the 22 year-old running back has improved at each of his college stops (Buffalo, New Mexico State and Arkansas).
“Washington made stops at three different colleges and showed improvement with each move to a new school,” Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft scouting report.
“He’s fast with loose hips and adequate agility. He’s not very sudden in tight quarters and is a step slow to see it and go when the hole opens. He can glide and swerve around interior traffic once he’s on the move, though. He has breakaway speed in the open field and is capable as an inside/outside runner. Running to his size with a greater degree of aggressiveness will be the key as he makes the jump. Washington has the traits and talent to become a solid rotational back.”
From his draft guide at The Athletic, Dane Brugler said the biggest area of weakness in Washington’s game is one that actually compliments Jeanty…
“A one-year starter at Arkansas, Washington emerged as the featured back in former offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino’s balanced spread scheme. After stops at Buffalo and New Mexico State, he transferred to Fayetteville in 2025 with low expectations, but he played the best ball of his career on a bad team, ranking top 10 nationally with 6.4 yards per carry,” Brugler wrote about Washington ahead of the draft.
“Washington has an impressive-looking physique and the downhill burst that generally makes tackling him high a bad idea for defenders. Despite some stiffness in his lower half, he is quick to read, collect his feet and cut away from pursuit with speed to finish. [He] is a good-sized athlete who gets through the crease and can be a punisher behind his pads, although he will need to improve his third-down skills to increase his NFL value.”
Brugler broke down Washington’s strengths and weaknesses, adding that he is a bit of an upright runner… in some ways similar to another Arkansas running back who was drafted by the Raiders in this century…
Strengths
- Big, long frame with muscular biceps and thick torso
- Posted fastest 40-yard dash (4.33 seconds) among running backs at 2026 NFL combine
- Runs with early giddy-up, thanks to spurts of explosiveness in his initial strides
- Keeps vision and pacing in sync to locate holes and follow blocks in timely fashion
- Better-than-expected ability to gather his weight and cut against the grain
- Flashes big-play potential: No. 2 among SEC running backs in 2025 with 16 plays of 20-plus yards (13 runs, three catches)
- Physical in short yardage and a freight train at full stride in the open field (see his truck-stick touchdown run vs. Texas safety Michael Taaffe)
- Caught the ball well as a screen target in 2025 (one drop on 36 targets)
- Productive senior year — one of just four SEC players to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards during the regular season
- Quiet, reliable character with “man on a mission” mindset (NFL scout: “The staff said he put his head down and worked from the moment he arrived … had no trouble fitting in … left an imprint on the program.”)
Weaknesses
- Strong runner but doesn’t consistently finish with violence as a ball carrier
- Exposes himself to punishment with upright run style
- Attempts to outrun linebackers to the corner don’t always work
- Runs with hints of tightness in his movements, which will be more noticeable against NFL athletes
- Raw in pass protection — late to decipher pressure packages and needs to do a better job keeping his head on a swivel
x: @raidersbeat
He’s not built like Christian Okoye. Gonna get hurt. McFadden bird legs gonna get chopped down.
Give him a path at the second level and that won’t matter. Nobody will catch him.