Most Las Vegas Raiders fans are very pleased with what he team has accomplished in free agency.
Yet, there was a move that didn’t make much people in the fan base pleased — the signing of kicker Matt Gay. That meant means the end of the eight-season run for the Raiders with Daniel Carlson as their kicker.
Gay been kicking in the NFL for seven years, originally breaking in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019. He spent one year in Tampa Bay before three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, making the Pro Bowl in 2021, then two campaigns with the Indianapolis Colts before spending this past fall with the Washington Commanders (10 games) and San Francisco 49ers (two games after the Commanders released him in November).
He has a career field goal percentage of 84.3 percent (73.9 percent in 2025) with a long of 58 yards (56 yards in 2025) and has made 96.7 percent of his extra points (100 percent in ‘25). Comparatively, Carlson, a free agent, has an 86.9 career field goal percentage (81.5 percent), a long of 60 yards (which was set this past season) and 95.7 extra point rate (95.5 percent). Gay will turn 32 this week and Carlson is 31.
Gay was with Las Vegas general manager John Spytek in Tampa Bay in 2019. New Las Vegas special teams coach Joe Decamilas was his his coach with the Rams in 2021-22 and he had his best seasons there. But, four years removed from a best season is a long time for any player.
We asked our community members who they would rather have and a whopping 90 percent would rather have kept Carlson. I can’t disagree.
Here are some of your responses:
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