When Klint Kubiak name dropped DJ Glaze when the Las Vegas Raiders head coach was asked about the offensive line he inherited at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine back in late February, it piqued my interest.
After all, that comment by the Silver & Black’s new lead man arrived after Glaze — Las Vegas’ third-round pick (77th overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft — struggled mightily in Year 2. From both a visual and metrics standpoint, it was a sophomore slump for Maryland product as Pro Football Focus (PFF) charted Glaze with 48 pressures allowed including 10 sacks and six quarterback hits given up. The group also earmarked the Raiders right tackle as the worst offender in blown blocks last season.
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With all that in mind, you’d be forgiven to label Kubiak’s words — “You have some stability at both tackle spots (Kolton Miller, DJ Glaze)” — as merely coach speak.
A month later, at the league meetings, Kubiak once again held Glaze in high regard.
“Well, probably like everybody, especially on the offense, is just buy into this new system and just get familiar with it so that they can go play fast on Sunday,” Kubiak said in Arizona. “And that’s our job as coaches. I think DJ is a really good young player.”
Nary another Raider has displaced Glaze from the starting right tackle gig. The soon-to-be 24-year-old (on August 4) offensive lineman has remained unchallenged for duties on an island on the right side throughout the offseason sessions so far and training camp around the corner (rookies report July 23 with veterans arriving on July 28).
Beat reporters from various outlets have all noted Glaze is entrenched as the starting right tackle, as is Miller on the blindside. The incumbent is holding strong and thwarting other challengers and when all-important training camp arrives, it’ll be interesting to see if Glaze can maintain his vice grip on the spot.
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While taking every first-team rep at right tackle through offseason team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp sessions is impressive, couple that with the coaching staff growing impression Glaze is the man for the job and Year 3 appears as a get-right season for the young tackle.
To be up front: Glaze’s fit in the blocking scheme veteran offensive line boss Rick Dennison and Kubiak are installing in Las Vegas appeared questionable from the jump. This is largely due to the 6-foot-4 and 331-pound linemen being more power-based than zone athletic-based. Let’s cut right to it: Glaze is more plodder than mover. The wide/outside zone system puts an emphasis on athletic linemen who have the footwork and high football IQ to move laterally and running out into space.
Glaze is mobility limited and doesn’t appear to be a fit for the horizontal movement required to get out in space, stretch, latch on to and seal athletic edge defenders to open up the offense for both running backs and quarterbacks. Twitchy athlete Glaze is not. As evidenced by Glaze’s struggles in 2025 when on an island at right tackle. Because of those limitations, there was a notion that Charles Grant — Las Vegas’ third-round pick (99th overall) in the 2025 draft — who is a dancing bear-type athletic tackle would challenge and potentially supplant Glaze.
That hasn’t happened.
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Now, before I go further, I must acknowledge that the Raiders’ previous offensive line boss was a textbook example of incompetence. Thus, perhaps Glaze and his fellow offensive line bretheren do indeed deserve a mulligan after the nepotism hire of Brennan Carroll to coach the trenches under his father and head coach Pete Carroll.
Yet, if Kubiak’s stint as the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks last season showed us anything, it’s he’s not obtuse when it comes to the blocking scheme he’ll deploy. While the outside/wide zone remained a staple of his play calling, Kubiak (with help from Dennison) and the Seahawks integrated power, gap, pin-and-pull to the blocking scheme to ensure the system puts the players in the best possible position to succeed.
Glaze brings plenty of power to the mix and ideal length with his nearly 35-inch arm length and impressive nearly 83-inch wingspan.
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While he may lack the elite movement skills ideal for zone, his strength and length coupled with the 331-pound framer provides anchor ability and he’s shown once he locks onto defenders, it’s difficult to shed Glaze. Especially in upcoming combo blocks where a guard and Glaze tag team defenders, the latter’s physical power will shine.
Glaze’s high football intelligence and ability to absorb and retain coaching is another key element. Kubiak’s coaching staff is a huge proponent of attention to details — get the little things right so big things happen — and Dennison stresses the “why” behind every detail. Glaze arrived to the Raiders with solid mental processing speed and is another reason why he’s zeroed-in on being the starting right tackle.
Glaze has impressed two coaching staffs during his two-year stint thus far in the NFL. As a rookie in 2024, he took over the starting right tackle gig in Week 3 and never relinquished it. In 2025, he was a 17-game starter on an island.
And 2026 is shaping up to be a similar excursion.
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How Glaze fares when the team goes full pads and gets physical and into preseason tilts and Week 1 of the regular season and beyond still bears watching. If athletic edge rushers continue to take advantage of Glaze this season, this Raiders coaching staff isn’t likely to sit idle and let it continue to happen — unlike last season.
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