The Las Vegas Raiders need a lot of help all throughout their roster, but they focused on running back once again at the 2026 NFL Draft. On Saturday, the Raiders selected Arkansas running back Mike Washington Jr. in the fourth round.
Washington will enter a Raiders’ running back room anchored by Ashton Jeanty, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Raiders RB Room Grows With Mike Washington Jr.
With Washington joining the Raiders’ running back room, that gives new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak a 4-back running back corps.
It’s very clear that Jeanty is RB1 in the Raiders’ offense. In his first NFL season, Jeanty had 266 carries for 975 yards and 5 touchdowns. He averaged 3.7 yards per carry. According to PFSN’s NFL RB Impact Metric, Jeanty had an impact score of 54.0, ranking 37th in the league and graded out to an F.
Dylan Laube, who was a sixth-round pick by the Raiders in the 2024 NFL Draft, is listed as the second running back on the Raiders’ RB depth chart. Laube only had 7 carries for 9 yards last season. Chris Collier is third on the depth chart right now.
With Washington coming into the Raiders’ organization, there’s plenty of room for him to stand out from the crowd. It’s possible that Washington might land in the No. 2 running back spot behind Jeanty.
The Raiders earned a B+ grade for their pick from the PFSN NFL Draft HQ data. Washington had a prospect score of 83.9 coming into the draft, per PFSN NFL Draft analysis.
“Mike Washington Jr. was one of the nation’s most efficient runners in 2025, securing a strong PFSN RB Impact grade of 88.6 while rumbling for 1,070 yards and eight touchdowns on over six yards per carry,” PFSN’s scouting report on Washington noted.
“Washington took stops at Buffalo and New Mexico State along the way to Arkansas, and thrived against SEC competition in his final season,” the report added.
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“At around 6’1″, 225 pounds, he’s a big-bodied one-cut back with explosive north-south athleticism, the vision to quickly identify initial lanes, and the pressing IQ to bait defenders out of corridors while keeping speed,” the scouting report noted.
“Washington’s size and burst come at the cost of high-end short-area agility and hip fluidity, and he must improve his ball security at the next level. But he’s nonetheless an instinctive runner who knows how to maximize his skill set, and can finish runs with physicality and punishing leg churn.”
Having a good running game is crucial for the Raiders to help rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza whenever he is given an opportunity to start, and the Raiders are certainly building that.
